You Better Run : Volume I
by Crazywriter26
Summary: Kate had never asked for anything in her life, and she surely had never asked to be thrown into a world where things really went bump in the night. She'll have to trust the grumpy Bobby Singer, the troubled Sam Winchester and the annoying Dean Winchester to help her find her way back home but also survive in this new world (OC from an AU where the show doesn't exist!) Slow Dean/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Settled between the events of season 4 episode 6 "Yellow Fever" and season 4 episode 7 "It's the great pumpkin Sam Winchester".**

**_In the road between Topeka and Lawrence, Kansas._**

She cursed loudly as she realized her car was not going to start anymore. She tried getting it to start a few times but it was, once again, in vain. The young brunette climbed out of her car and decided to look under the hood of it even though she knew she was more than ignorant about how a car really works. She opened the hood and stared at what was there for a few seconds.

"Who am I kidding?" She asked herself as she took her phone out of her denim pocket ready to call her mother but then she remembered the fight she had with her. She had told her that she didn't want anything to do with her anymore. She decided on calling a mechanic instead but she hesitated since she knew it would cost her a lot of money that she didn't have. She bit on her bottom lip trying to think of a way to get herself out of this. Calling a friend who knows something about cars maybe? Mmh, she didn't have a lot of friends and the few that she had was as ignorant of cars as her.

She threw her head back and looked up at the blue sky. It seemed like this week was her bad week. She never had that much of bad luck ever. She lost her job because some stupid jackass pretended to be her and angered her boss just enough to make him fire her. She found out her boyfriend had been cheating on her with one of her supposedly friends. Her mother and she got on a fight over stupid things again. And so many other little stupid things had happened. She was fed up. All she really wanted right now was to get as far away as possible from her hometown and clearher mind.

She sighed as she closed her light brown eyes and rubbed her hand down her face. Suddenly, an idea crossed her mind. She remembered she had a little paper with all the important numbers to call in case of an emergency. She went back inside her little grey car to get this paper. As she searched for it, she accidentally cut her finger with another paper. She cursed at the pain before she grabbed the paper with the number and climbed out of the car. The paper and her phone all in one hand as she looked down at the papercut. It wasn't that big but damn it a papercut could really hurt. She sucked on it a little bit; an old habit that she always had to suck on the blood from little cuts like this ever since she was a little kid. She walked to the front of the car, looking down at the hood. Maybe she could ask some advice on how getting her car to work again on the phone instead of having somebody come here.

As she was going to dial the number, the earth suddenly began to shake under her feet. It wasn't a big shaking but it was enough to make her jump in surprise. She put her hands on the car to steady herself before she sighed shaking her head. She started typing the number on her phone when there was another shaking; more violent. She dropped the phone and the paper on the ground and gripped the car as she realized it was possibly going to turn into a real earthquake. Her bleeding cut hurting her even more by gripping on the car. Suddenly, a loud thunder was heard.

"What the hell?" she muttered before she looked up to see that the blue sky was gone and there was only a dark grey sky "Oh God..." suddenly, the ground shook again and she tried to walk to get back inside her car thinking it would be the safest place to be right now, no matter what was happening.

When she opened the driver's door, she saw a sort of round dark hole getting bigger and bigger. She looked at it with wide eyes as she took a few steps back before all of sudden she felt herself getting breathed inside the hole.

Then everything was just black.

Two tall men got out of a black 1967 chevy impala arguing over a missing pie in a bag. They had parked right in front of the front door of an old house surrounded by old and half destroyed cars.

"Dean, I'm telling you for the thousandth time, there wasn't any pie left!" The tallest of the two said when an old man wearing a cap walked out of the front door.

"Yeah, then tell me how is it that an old lady got out of the store after you with two boxes of pie?"

"What's going here? You can't come here without yelling under my porch you idjits?"

"Sorry Bobby but Dean doesn't know how to accept something when it's said to him."

"I know how to accept things, Sam. You're the one who doesn't know-"

"Okay, enough! I already have a headache today, don't add anymore to me or you'll just have to roll all the way back to wherever you've been!"

"Sorry, Bobby," Sam said glancing at his brother who just opened the hood to get his duffle bag. He walked there to get his own.

"Anyway, I hope you brought beers with you because I don't have any-" Bobby started to say before the three of them heard a loud noise coming from the stacked up cars. The old man frowned as he looked over there.

"Must be some wild cat," Dean said shrugging as he put his duffle bag on his shoulder.

"There ain't any around here," Bobby said still gazing over the cars. Sam glanced at him wondering also what made that noise. Suddenly, the clouds started to gather up in the sky and a loud thunder was heard. The rain started to pour widely.

"Damn it! Let's get inside!" Dean said as Sam grabbed his bag letting him shut the hood. The three men got inside the house.

"Talk about a shower!" Sam said as they walked in the full of books living room of the old man's house. They could hear the rain pouring outside.

"Wasn't supposed to rain today," Bobby said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, well never trust the weather news that's what I always say," Dean said pointing at the old man.

"No you don't," Sam told him.

"Well, now I do," Dean smirked at Sam who went to pull the curtains away of one window. He looked outside "Okay, I'm gonna head to the shower and-"

"Guys!" Sam almost shouted.

"What?" Bobby asked.

"I think there's something out there."

"There's a lot of things out there, Sammy."

"No, I mean there's something moving... I think it's someone?" Sam said. Bobby and Dean looked at each other before they walked quickly by Sam's side. They looked out there to see indeed a moving form on the top of a few cars.

"I'll get a rifle. Bring your demon knife in case," Bobby said as he walked towards the front door. Dean took out the demon knife and Sam his gun. They followed the old man outside.

"Damn it. This thing couldn't come earlier when it was all sunny!" Dean complained as the rain poured on them.

"Okay, I'll go this way. Dean you this tight way and you turn around. Sam, you go left. We're gonna circle whatever this is," Bobby told them as they all went separate ways.

Groaning, the brown-haired woman opened her brown eyes as she felt water coming all over her face and her body. She put her hand on her face and sat up.

"What the hell?" she whispered as she looked around her. She was laid on the front seats of a car with a roof shattered open. She looked up to see the dark sky and its raining. Suddenly, as she was looking at the car she realized she wasn't in her car. She remembered everything that happened before she passed out. She was driving in an empty road when her car had stopped. She had tried to call a mechanic when the sky turned dark and the earth started to shake. Then, when she had wanted to get in her car there was a dark hole forming. And then she woke up here. Her eyes were wide as she realized that it was really, really not good at all.

"I need to get out of here and to find help-" she told herself as she pushed the door in front of her with her feet only to have it bang loudly on another car right next to it "Damn it."

She looked up and started getting out from the open roof. When half of her body was out she took a glimpse at the surroundings "Great, I was thrown in a junkyard!" She got herself completely out and was now standing on the roof. She almost fell down because of the rain, so she decided to be more careful and knelt on the roof of the car. She looked to her left and noticed a house with a few lights on "I could go and ask for help in there," she said as she tried climbing down this car "Seriously? Who put cars over cars over cars?!" She complained as she fell on her bottom. As she was almost finished climbing down the cars, she noticed three people getting out of the house. Her eyes got wide when she noticed that one of them was carrying a riffle "Oh God, that must be my kidnappers!" She gasped. She saw the tallest one of the three pull a gun out and she gasped for the second time.

"Okay, I need to get out of here asap!" She told herself in a whisper.

She managed to get down on the muddy ground, thankful to have put on converse sneakers and not a pair of heels when she woke up this morning. She started walking around a few cars and tried to find her way out without crossing the road with one of the three men. But, it was her bad luck week and she almost immediately saw the tallest man with the gun. She walked back and headed to the other direction, trying to walk as fast as possible.

"Hey! Stop!" A grumpy voice shouted. She stopped and turned her head to see a man with a cap on. She looked at his rifle and gulped.

"I'm screwed. I'm gonna die," She muttered as he walked towards her. She noticed him putting the rifle down by his sides and decided it was the right moment to run away.

"Stop!" He shouted as she ran in between the cars "Boys!She's here!"

She was running in different directions trying to find a way out of there when she suddenly collided onto someone.

"Hey!" A tall man said and she recognized him as being the tall one with a gun. He was even taller than she thought. He put one of his hands on her arm when she kicked him hard to his groin. He cursed under his breath as he put his hands over the injured place and she ran away. Fortunately she was a fast runner and she knew how to defend herself. If there was one thing her mother had done more than right it had to be the forced lessons of karate when she was younger.

"Where is it?!" Dean asked as he arrived in front of his little brother.

"It's not a it... It's a girl. She went that way," Sam groaned as he showed the way with one hand.

"Ouch," Dean said as he realized where his brother was hurt before he ran to another way hoping to catch her on the other end. And, he was right. He arrived on the end of his way and saw her running. He ran towards her and jumped on her, tackling her down. They both were on the mud now.

"Ugh," He groaned as she screamed. She kicked him trying to get free from his strong hold "Bobby I've got her!" He shouted right before she punched him hard on his left cheek. "Damn it!" He groaned before he straddled her lap and grabbed both of her wrists holding them against the ground up near her head.

"Leave me alone!" She shouted at him as she kept twisting her body under him.

"Damn it woman! Stop moving your body like that when you've got a man on you!" He told her when Bobby arrived followed by Sam.

"Who are you?" Bobby asked her "And what are you doing in my propriety?!"

"Get off me first!"

"There's no way I'm moving off of you, sweetheart. Not until you tell us what you are."

"Not a demon that's for sure. Otherwise she would have pushed you off her easily," Bobby said.

"Christio?" Dean said and when nothing happened he turned his head at the two other men "Maybe a shapeshifter. I say let's find out." He said as he turned his attention back to her. He held her wrists with one hand and pulled out the demon knife out of his pocket with the other. The woman stared up at him with wide eyes.

"What are you gonna do with that?!"

"Just checking something," Dean told her with a wicked smile before he pulled her right sleeve down.

"No, no, no. No, please God, don't do that. I-" She started to beg him but he cut a bit of her skin and she closed her eyes shut. Dean looked at the cut then at her face before he looked up at Bobby shaking his head.

"Miss can you tell us what you're doing here?" Bobby asked as he got closer to her.

"Well you should know you're the ones who kidnapped me!"

"What? We didn't kidnap you!" Dean said frowning as he looked down at her "We're the good people."

"Good people? You just sliced me open!" She shouted at him and his expression changed into something she couldn't point a finger at. He looked like if he was suddenly very far away in his thoughts. She looked up at the old man "You drugged me, right? I mean this whole earth quake, dark sky and dark hole aspiring me it was the drugs you gave me. If this is a bad joke then it's really, really not funny!"

"Look, we have no idea what you're talking about. But what Dean said is true and we can help you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm Bobby Singer by the way. And this is Sam Winchester and this idjit is Dean. Dean get off her!" The cap headed man said.

"Yeah." He stood up and he looked down at the woman offering her a hand to stand up which she accepted without saying a word.

"What's your name?" Bobby asked her.

"Kaitlin. But you can call me Kate," she simply replied as she looked down at herself and groaned. She was covered with mud from hair to toes because of that Dean guy who had tackled her down. She put her hand down on the cut this Dean guy did to her, frowning with confusion.

"Okay, let's get inside so you can get cleaned up," The old man said as he noticed her expression. She looked up and nodded at him.

Once Kate had finished her shower where she had been asking herself a thousand questions over what was happening, she walked out of the tub with a towel around her body. She looked at her nasty clothes and mentally slapped her forehead for forgetting that she didn't have any other clothes to put on. Suddenly, a knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Hum, it's Sam. I- hum I thought you could need some clean clothes so I-"

"Oh thanks!" She cut him off as she walked towards the door and opened it. He looked down at her and coughed before looking away from her naked body that was covered with only a little white towel "I was actually cursing myself for not having anything else to wear."

"Oh well, here you go." He said trying not to let his eyes wander lower as he handed her a pile of clothes.

"Thank you," She said taking the clothes from him "And hum sorry for earlier," She said tilting her head down low at his crotch.

"Oh, hum it's okay..." He replied nervously trying to hide the fact that he was still a bit hurt downstairs "I'm gonna let you put your clothes on."

"Yeah," She only said as he left and she closed the door sighing.

After have spent a rather long amount of time thinking about what was happening to her, wondering if it was a dream, she began to think about what those men said when they caught her earlier. Demon? Shapeshifter? She decided to not over think all of that in order to avoid a headache.

She opened the bathroom door wearing a shirt that was so large for her that it went to her mid-tights and didn't let any of her woman curves show off. She was also wearing a pair of shorts that were also bigger than her but that she managed holding it up around her little waist. She was sure that those clothes belonged to Sam. She looked at the hallway as she walked. She turned to the right and stopped as she listened to the three men talking.

"I say we just throw her back to where she comes from and then we'll be able to knock ourself to sleep!" A rough voice said. She recognized it. It was Dean's.

"Yeah, I guess after the storm has calmed down, that'd be the right thing to do," A voice said more softly; it was Sam's.

"You idjits, I ain't gonna throw her away until I find out what she was doing in my yard!"

"Bobby, come on is that really important? As far as we know she's got nothing to do with the supernatural world so let's not waste time and tell her to go home."

"Why are you so eager to make her go?" Sam asked.

"I'm not. I just want to rest before the next case and I don't think it's smart to keep a citizen in a place full of those things!"

"You've got a point, Dean. But there's still a problem. She doesn't know how she got here and we don't know either," Bobby said.

"Fifty bucks, she was drunk when she came in here!" Dean exclaimed.

"I wasn't drunk," she said as she stepped in the doorway of the dusty living room full of books. The three men turned their gaze at the woman with wet curly-wavy hair.

"So what were you doing there?" Dean asked her as he looked at her with a stern look. She could feel that he wasn't trusting her at all.

"I don't know. I woke up in one of those cars and then you three started chasing me with weapons!"

"We thought you were something else," Sam told her.

"Yeah, a demon or a shape whatever?" she scoffed "I don't know if this is a joke or some kind of stupid candid camera but this isn't funny! I thought I was gonna die in this black hole! Did you drug me or -"

"Black hole? What the hell are you talking about kid?" Bobby asked her, his arms crossed over his chest as he furrowed his eyebrows at her. He was studying her, trying to see if she was lying.

"I guess it was a side effect of the drugs you gave me," she mumbled to herself.

"Look sweetheart, none of us gave you any drugs," Dean told her as he took one step towards her.

"Don't call me sweetheart," she told him sternly and he did a semi scoff semi smirk before he turned around to sit down on a chair that was there. "Look, I just wanna go home, please."

"Sure, we're gonna let you go home," Sam said as he looked at her with gentle eyes "But we need to understand what happened to you. It may be serious." She looked at him and weighed the pros and the cons in her head quickly.

"Alright," she sighed.

"Tell us the last thing you remember," the older man told her as he motioned to one chair. She walked towards it and sat down as Dean mumbled something under his breath before he took a long sip of his beer. She frowned at him. He may be good-looking but damn it was he rude.

"I was driving in the road leading to Lawrence when-"

"Why Lawrence?" Dean cut her off.

"Why not?" She asked him and they stared at each other for a long few seconds before Dean turned his gaze back to his beer. "Anyways, I was driving to Lawrence when my car stopped in the middle of the road. There was nobody out there so I decided to try give a look under the hood," Dean looked at her with raised eyebrows. "But I'm worse than unskilled for that," Dean scoffed making her glare at him while Sam coughed a bit to make his brother stop. She took a breath before continuing. "Then there were those earthquakes getting more violent each time. And then the sky was dark and I heard a few thunders. I got scared; I mean the sky was of the brightest blue one second and then it was dark and I knew a storm was going to start so I decided to wait in my car. But when I opened it... Hum there was this black hole, it was getting bigger and bigger and I could feel like it was aspiring. So I tried to back away from it but..." she frowned her eyebrows at the memory as she stared at a wall.

"But?" Bobby said.

"But I think it swallowed me. I remember it pulling me in," she looked up to look at the three men staring at her. "So are you gonna call an institution or should I do it myself?"

"You're not crazy, Kate," Sam told her gently.

"Then what was all of this if not drugs?"

"Hum we don't know but we'll figure it out, right Bobby?"

"Of course! But, first do you wanna call your relatives?" He said and her face lit up.

"Please!" She said as he nodded to her at one phone that was on his desk. She stood up and walked to that place.

"Make yourself comfortable. We'll be in the kitchen," Bobby told her and she gave him a smile. The two younger men looked at her a bit surprised. It was the first time she had smiled and she had a very pretty smile; one of those that could lit up a whole room.

"She can smile," Dean said scoffing before Sam pushed him lightly on his shoulder making him follow the two others to the kitchen.

As the two brothers and the old man with a cap went to talk in the kitchen, Kate sat down on the chair with a sigh. She looked at the old phone in her hands and wondered who to call first. The last time she talked to her mother, it was a heated argument where she had told her she didn't want to see her anymore. Mother, no good idea. Maybe she could call some friends of hers to come and pick her up from where she was. At this right moment, she realized she had no idea at all of where she was. She glanced up at the closed sliding doors where the three people disappeared wanting to ask them when she realized that they were certainly talking about her. She bit on her bottom lip as she looked at the papers on the desk looking for a letter where there would be the address of this place. However, she didn't find anything like that. She found things that were very different from ordinary papers. There were papers with patterns that looked like devil pentagram and a few books written in Latin. She started reading them thanking her old self to have decided to take Latin classes when she was younger. Her eyes got bigger and bigger when she realized she was reading a sort of magical ritual that needed the blood of a young lamb. She glanced up to the slightly closed sliding doors before looking right back down at the other papers. Seals breaking? Lilith and Lucifer?

Kate gulped as she realized those men were more than certainly psychos and devil fanatics who were going to sacrifice her. She decided to dial the first number that got in her mind quickly. She had to get out of here before they killed her.

"Hello?" The voice replied on the other end.

"Peter?" She whispered.

"Hum yeah. Who's it?"

"It's me Kate," she replied in a whisper.

"Kate who?" He asked making her groan.

"Look I know we broke up and I told you to forget me because you selfish bastard you cheated on me, but I need your help," she whispered to him.

"What? Who the hell is it?" He asked and Kate groaned.

"Stop making fun of me, I've been kidnapped by devil fanatics," she whispered.

"Is this a joke? Sarah baby, it's you isn't it?"

"Who is this fucking Sarah? You cheated on me with Eva and some Sarah too?" She told him.

"Look, I don't have time for this. I'm gonna hung up and if you call one more time, I'll just call the cops, okay?" He said hanging up on her.

"No, Peter I-" She started to say before she realized he had hung up on her. "Asshole." She looked up at the sliding doors and decided that seeing the situation she was in, she could call her mother.

"Hello?" Her mother's voice said.

"Please don't hang up like I know you are going to. But I really do need your help-"

"Who's that?"

"It's me, mom," she replied in a whisper.

"Mom? I'm sorry I think you got the wrong number," her mother said.

"Oh come on don't do that to me. I know I told you I wasn't your daughter anymore but can you just get over this-"

"I'm sorry I don't under-"

"Look, I know I was wrong, you were right like always but mom I've been kidnapped!" She shouted in a whisper.

"What? The number didn't appear on my phone screen... Oh my God... Is this the only call you can make?" The voice of her mother was now a low whisper.

"Yes I mean no... But I don't know how long I have before they sacrifice me for the devil or God knows what. I don't even know where I am... I woke up there and they cut me and-"

"Oh my god, if this is a joke-"

"It's not a joke," she cut her off glancing up at the sliding doors. "They are three and I don't know they seem nice but I think they're playing with my mind and I can say they are psychos..."

"Okay, okay. I'll just call the cops. What is your name?"

"What? Mom!" Kate let out a bit louder than she wanted to.

"I'm sorry I'm not your mom..."

"Come on, it's me Kate," she told her. The sliding doors opened without her noticing it.

"Kate what?"

"Kaitlin Anderson... Mom I'm not joking please..."

"Kaitlin Anderson? God... This must be the worst joke ever... My daughter Kaitlin died at birth," she said and Kate's face went pale "You must feel really proud of you to make this kind of joke. Now, get yourself a life and some dignity and leave me alone."

"No, it's me-" She said but the call ended as her mother hung up on her.

Kate was frozen with the phone on her ear, her eyes staring down at the desk.

"You're okay?" She heard a voice ask her. She looked up at the old man.

"Can I try again? I-I think there's a little problem," she told him and Bobby nodded as he noticed the colors had left her face. She dialed her mother's number again.

"I told you to leave me alone," her mother told her.

"No, no. Please, it's me! Don't pretend I don't exist-" She said but her mother hung up on her. She dialed it a third time but her mother hung up on her without even answering.

"What's going on kiddo?" Bobby asked her with frowned eyebrows while Sam was near the sliding doors staring at her from there.

"My... My mother and my boyfriend hum ex-boyfriend they, they are pretending to not know who I am," she replied before giving out a chuckle. "She went as far as telling me I died when I was born... I almost did but I didn't die and there she is telling me this because we had a stupid argument!"

"Do you have anyone else to call?" He told her. She looked up at him and shruggedshaking her head.

"I don't remember everyone's numbers, I-I don't know."

"It's okay. Why don't you rest a little bit and then you'll call them again," he told her "Or maybe if you prefer we can drive you home tomorrow morning?"

"That'd be cool," she replied nodding her head almost absently as she was thinking over and over her phone calls with her mother and her ex-boyfriend. She walked to the couch and sat down there. Bobby left the room saying he was coming back in a few minutes when Sam spoke up.

"Maybe we can try Facebook?" He suggested and she looked up at him.

"That's actually a great idea," she told him and he gave her a small smile before walking away.

Dean arrived in the room a second after and he immediately saw the expression on her face. She was sad over something and it made him feel uncomfortable. He didn't like having sad girls around because they always asked for comfort and some cheesy talk to cheer them up, which he was far from good at.

"You hungry?" He asked her out of the blue. She looked up at him and frowned her eyebrows.

"Actually I am," she replied.

"You like pizza?"

"You know someone who don't?" He gave her a corner smile before walking to the kitchen. He stopped and turned around to look at her.

"I'm sorry for... You know," he told her as he pointed at her arm.

"Yeah, it's okay," she replied and he nodded at her as his brother arrived with his laptop. He walked in the kitchen leaving the two to do whatever they were going to.

"Okay, I just switch it on and then you can reach your friends via Facebook," he told her and she nodded. He put the laptop down on the coffee table right in front of the couch.

"I wasn't even going to make a Facebook but I was convinced by a few people because it was apparently going to be useful one day... and here came the day," she said jokking though her tone was a little dull. "By the way, where are we?"

"Sioux falls, South of Dakota," Sam replied as he typed his password on his laptop. She stared at him. "What?"

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Hum no," Sam replied.

"I was driving towards Lawrence and I was coming from Topeka in Kansas," she said articulating every single word. "How the hell did I appear here?"

"This is a question we're asking ourselves too actually," he replied "Especially since you told us what happened before you woke up here."

"It's not possible..." She breathed out. He looked at her and squeezed his eyes a little bit.

"Did you smell any kind of nasty smell before you passed out? Like rotten eggs?"

"No," she shook her head frowning in confusion. "Why?"

"Nothing, it's just... Maybe you think you just woke up but you actually did the whole trip from that road to here unconsciously?"

"Unconsciously?" She asked looking at him with raised eyebrows. He licked his lips and coughed.

"Or possessed?" Dean said as he leaned on the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. She looked up at him.

"By a demon?" She said sarcastically before she turned to look at Sam who had a very serious expression on his face. "What? You don't actually believe I could have been possessed by a demon?"

"I'm sorry but it could have happened. Though, your story doesn't correspond to one of a possession," Sam said shaking his head. Kate stared at him as he looked down at his laptop. He looked so relaxed when saying this as if it was a casual conversation. She looked up at Dean who just stared at her before taking a long sip of his beer. "Okay, you can type up your name and password," Sam told her as he looked at her and she didn't say anything as she leaned down on the laptop and typed the informations needed to get access of her account. She typed enter and frowned when the page that appeared told her the account didn't exist. Sam's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Can I retry?" She asked him as Dean walked back in the kitchen where he was cooking a frozen pizza that he got out of the fridge.

"Sure, go ahead," Sam told her and she typed for the second time only to have this same page appeared.

"I don't understand I'm sure it's that! It's the same password I use for almost everything," she said.

"Do you go to university maybe?"

"Yeah, I do actually," she replied "But it is in France." Sam looked at her surprised.

"Then what are you doing in the US in the middle of the year?"

"I took a year off," she told him "I needed to clear my mind a little bit and I had found a little job in my hometown." She shrugged and Sam nodded.

"Okay, so I guess we could still find some traces of you if we write your name and the university name," he told her and she nodded.

"My name's Kaitlin Anderson and it's the Sorbonne University," she told him and he was even more surprised.

"It's a pretty well-known one," he said as he typed down the information.

"And yet it's not really the best of Paris," she replied as she stared at the screen.

"Your last name is spelled like that right?" He asked and she nodded as he clicked enter. They both frowned at the screen. "Did I write something wrong?"

"No," she replied "Maybe try to write it in this website," she said pointing at a link "We can find old and new students of the University in there." He nodded and did so. The result was the same. There was no Kaitlin Anderson at all. Sam looked up at her and frowned his eyebrows. "I don't understand what's happening."

"Something'swrong?" Bobby asked as he came back in the room with his arms full of books.

"Wait, I'm just gonna look in there, when and where were you born?" Sam said.

"Hum April 18, 1984. And Dallas, Texas," she replied before she looked down at what he was doing. "Is this really the FBI database?!" She asked shocked.

"Hum yeah," Sam replied as he glanced up at her before a phone started to ring and Bobby answered it claiming to be the FBI boss of looked at Bobby and then back at the young man sitting right next to her.

"You're not FBI agents undercover are you?" She asked looking at Sam.

"No, we're not," he replied as he kept his eyes glued on his laptop typing things over and over againas Bobby hung up.

"But you're hacking their database and he was pretending to be an FBI agent to whoever it was on the phone," she said and Sam nodded. "And of course, I don't have to worry at all." Sam nodded before he glanced at her and saw panic written all over her face. He stopped what he was doing and turned a little bit to face her.

"You don't have to worry at all. We help people, we really do. And sometimes we need to lie to help them or to hack the FBI database," he told her shrugging as he gave her a little smile trying to reassure her. He looked very sincere and had one of those genuinely kind face so it was difficult for her to nottrust him even though the whole situation was far from reassuring.

"What about the Lilith and Lucifer stuff and the sixty-six seals?" She asked him making Bobby look at her suspiciously in one second and Sam shifted in his position too as he stared at her.

"How do you know about that?" Sam asked her.

"It was on the desk," she motioned to Bobby's desk "When I was making my calls, I saw a few papers and books talking about it."

"It's written in Latin," Bobby said.

"And I read Latin," she replied as she turned to look at him. He was staring at her and she realized she might have upset them. "Okay, I know I shouldn't have done that... Especially since it kinda scared the crap out of me that you've got all those kind of things laid casually on your desk but you tell me that I might have been possessed by a demon so casually and you cut me to see if I'm a shape-shapeshifter or whatever! I mean it's just-" She stopped when the laptop made a beeping sound and on the screen appeared that she was a person who died at birth. Sam who noticed her face turned to look at the screen. "What the hell?"

"You're dead," he told her.

"I'm dead? I can't be dead," she said.

"What is it Sam?" Bobby asked as he walked towards them as Kate stood up. "Calm down," he told her.

"It says I'm dead! How the hell do you want me to calm down?!" She shouted as she pointed at the laptopwhile taking a few steps back.

"It says you died at birth," Sam told her looking up at her and Bobby turned to look at hertoo.

"Wasn't it what your mother said on the phone?" He asked her.

"Yeah but it didn't happen! I'm here! I'm standing right in front of you in flesh so how the hell could I be dead?!" She shouted before she was hit on the head and fell on the floor unconscious.

"Dean!" Both Bobby and Sam said in the same time as they stared at him in shock.

"What? You heard her! How can she be standing in front of us in flesh if she's dead?" He told them as he put down the rifle with which he hit her on the head. "Come on, let's tie her to a chair until she wakes up and we can find out what she really is."

"I don't think it was necessary," Sam said "She looked genuinely afraid and unaware of what's happening to her."

"Yeah? Well, I look genuinely afraid and unaware of what's happening to her too. But if there's something we've learned all those years hunting the supernatural, it is to not trust somebody who appears out of nowhere and has a certificate of death," Dean said as he put his arms under the brunette and carried her as he looked down at her face "Even if it's a hot chick."

Kate opened her eyes, groaning as she felt a strong pain on her head. She found herself tied to a chair in the middle of the room she was in a sort of basement. She tried to remember what happened and her eyes suddenly got big.

"God," was all that escaped her mouth as she started to look at the whole place surrounding her. There were weapons on one side, a chair and a desk with a few documents and a couple of books on it, a bed and a cupboard with provisions. She looked up to see there was a giant aeration system with a sort of pentagram in the vent. She looked down to see another big pattern on the floor. She sighed longly. "I knew they weren't as nice and innocent as they looked like... Freaking psychos fanatics of the devil," she whispered to herself before her gaze landed on a poster of a woman in a swimsuit. She frowned confused as she tilted her head. If she remembered right in all the movies she's ever seen, the room where the psychos held the people they kidnapped in didn't look like the one she was in, and there certainly wasn't any bimbos posters. She remembered that they were trying to help her before she passed out, or at least they seemed to be helping her. So, why would they tie her up and keep her locked in a room like this one? Were they playing with her? She bit on her bottom lip as she looked down at the pattern and frowned. Maybe they really thought she was possessed by something evil?

Suddenly, she heard a noise of fluttering wings followed by the noise of a step.

"Kaitlin Anderson?" She stopped breathing when she heard that rough and unfamiliar voice say her name. More steps were heard and she was now faced by a dark-haired man with very blue eyes and a trench coat. "You don't have to be scared."

"Yeah, sure," she replied sarcastically "It's not like I'm tied up in a basement full of weapons and weird patterns that look like devil ones."

"Those are devil traps," he told her "It helps hunters when they are exorcising a demon out of a person."

"Oh God," she groaned "But I am not possessed!"

"I know you are not," he told her nodding his head.

"Then why am I tied up? What are you and your friends going to do?" She asked him.

"I am not going to do anything to you. And they are not going to do anything to you because I am going to tell Dean to free you," he said calmly.

"Can't you free me instead of calling Dean or anyone else?" She asked him.

"I can but I rather they do it. They don't trust you. But this is because they can't see your soul. They can't see how different you are from anything that's ever grazed this world," he replied and she stared at him as if he was mad and truth be told that's what she thought he was.

"And you can see my soul of course," she told him nodding her head.

"Every angel of the Lord can see anyone's soul," he told her "But I do admit I never thought I'd have the chance to see one of an human from another dimension. I never thought it would be this much more beautiful than the humans from here."

"Okaay, so you're an angel," she said "An angel of the Lord, and I am from another dimension," she said with an unbelieved tone.

"You don't believe me," he told her as he leaned forward.

"You think?" She told him and he stared at her.

"Why do you think your mother and the man you used to fornicate with didn't recognize you on the phone? Why do you think the Wichester brothers didn't find anything about you at all except that you have the identity of a person that should be dead a long time ago?"

"You-you did something," she accused "You're playing with my mind. You four have kidnapped me and you've been having the time of your life playing with my sanity!"

"This is not true," he told her with frowned eyebrows as he stared at her. "You were brought here by something powerful and we the soldiers of the Lord, smelled your arrival but we can't explain it. You are not in any outline. You are not supposed to be here."

"You are angels? Do angels slice people open and drink beer in this world?" She asked him sarcastically and he looked down at her forearm where Dean had cut her. He walked closer to her and she closed her eyes in fear. She always had a big mouth and she was now afraid that she might have upset him. Her mother had once told her rhat her big mouth full of sarcasm would give her troubles one day. She hesitantly opened her eyes when she realized he wasn't doing anything except looking at the cut on her arm as he was bent down.

"Your hosts are not angels. They are hunters," he told her as he looked up at her. She didn't say anything. "You have faith in God, I know you have. So why don't you believe that I am an angel?" She only stared at him as she bit down on her tongue in order to not reply with a sarcastic answer. "Maybe you need some proof?" He said before he put his hand over the cut. She looked down at what he was doing and was a bit surprised to see a little bit of light leaving the spaces between his fingers. He put his hand away and she was more than surprised. The cut was gone. "I am not supposed to do this but if it helps to make you believe what is happening I am sure my commanders will understand."

"You-you... How the hell did you do that?" She asked him as he stood up and took a step back. He looked at her in silence. "You really are an angel?"

"Yes."

"Oh my God," she said in a whisper as she looked back and forth at her forearm and at him. "Then where are your wings? And why are you wearing a trench coat?"

"Those questions are irrelevant for now," he replied "All you need to know is that you were brought here by something very powerful but I doubt it is my Father... Although there is absolutely nothing more porwerful than him."

"You are like Leo from Charmed," she said as she looked at him with a dumb expression.

"Hum who? I don't know any Leo from any place called Charmed. Is it an important detail from your dimension?" He asked her and she frowned.

"Dimension? My dimension?" She said "Wait... Were you serious when you said I am from another dimension?" She asked panicked.

"Yes," he simply replied.

"How do I go back?" She asked him.

"I don't know," he replied.

"What do you mean you don't know? You're an angel, you're supposed to know those kind of things!"

"I am only supposed to follow orders from my commanders," he told her. "And they don't know either."

"What?... But-but I don't understand how-" She was cut off by him putting his fingers on her forehead which made her sleep.

"Hey, take it slow," Dean said as Kate groaned and tried to open her eyes as he was untying her. When he finished he carried her and let her down on the bed. It wasn't even four in the morning but he was already awake after the angel that saved him from Hell appeared in his dream once again. This time it was to tell him to free Kaitlin because she was to be protected. Apparently, the brunette was not from this dimension and this was the reason why they couldn't find anything about her on any database. The angel had told him that as long as she was in this dimension they had to protect her until they found a way to bring her back home. He hadn't said anything else before his dream ended and he woke up. He hadn't waited long before putting on his clothes, taking a long sip of his bottle of alcohol and then walking downstairs to Bobby's panic room.

Dean was hovering her, looking at her face. She was pretty cute with lips that weren't too full but weren't too thin either. Her nose was round and cute and she had a mole on one of her cheek. Her skin was a flawless creamy white and with the natural redness of her lips he didn't know why but she reminded him of Snow White. Slowly her eyes opened, and the light brown color of them immediately met the green of his. She stared at him for a moment and he gave her a little smile. She smiled back before she frowned and pushed him away. "Woah, easy tiger!"

"You! Don't get any closer from me!" She shouted at him and sat up before standing up. She grabbed the pillowand held it in front of her.

"Are you really going to defend yourself with a pillow?" He asked her a bit amused and she stared at him before she glanced behind him. The door was open. She threw the pillow at his face and ran to the open door. He quickly caught her from behind and she kicked him with her elbow before throwing her head back to hit him in the chin. "Son of a bitch," he groaned as she ran out of his reach. But once again, he quickly grabbed her and put more force this time as he pushed her against a wall. "Calm down! I'm not going to do anything to you!"

"Oh really then what were you doing putting me on a bed while I was unconscious and staring at me like that?"

"I didn't want to wake you up when I untied you, so I just put you on the bed," he replied and she stared at him in silence as he stared her back. His face was pretty close to hers so they could both feel each other's breath on their faces. Her eyes gazed all over his face in a short couple of seconds before they settled in his gaze. She looked into his deep green eyes and immediately knew that she could trust him but she didn't know why. "I'm gonna step back but only if you promise to behave, okay?"

"Why don't you make the same promise?" She said back and he smirked as he let go of her and took a step back.

"Okay, look we need to sit down because there's a few things you need to know," he told her as she looked down at her wrists that he had held rather forcefully against the wall. She noticed that the cut he had given her was gone. She remembered the visit of that man with a trench coat. The angel.

"You're a hunter, aren't you?" She said looking up at him.

"How did you know?" He asked her suspicious.

"Would you believe me if I told you that a man in a trench coat told me this and that he is an angel too?" Shetold him.

"What else did he tell you?" He asked her.

"That I was from another dimension," she replied in almost a whisper.

"I guess we don't need to sit down anymore."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Sioux Falls, South of Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.**_

_5:07 am._

Leaned against his desk, Bobby stared at the young woman attentively as she was sat in the middle of the couch in his messy living room. She would bring her hands up and put locks of her hair behind her ears every once in a while before putting her hands on her lap. She didn't look nervous but she surely didn't look at ease either. So far, Bobby thought she was taking what was happening to her not too badly. There were worse reactions. He glanced at the two Winchester brothers. They were sat on two chairs across from the brunette of 5'6" tall. They seemed to be listening carefully at every words that left her mouth, but Dean seemed to be studying her, analyzing her. He was staring at her as if he was waiting for her to make a Freudian slip. However, Sam seemed to have some sympathy for the young woman. He looked at her with soft eyes and there was not an ounce of suspicion in his manners, unlike his older brother. The old man turned his gaze back to the woman as she was telling them about the visit of that angel and once she finished, Dean spoke up.

"His name is Castiel," Dean told her and she looked up at him.

"So all of this is... _Real_?" She asked hesitantly.

"I'm afraid so," Sam replied making her look at him. He gave her smile full of sympathy and she realized that he was certainly the one out of the two brothers to be sweeter to people. Dean seemed too agitated and careless, and above all he seemed to have something against her. "Don't worry, we'll find a way to send you back home."

"God," she moaned as she put her face in her hands "It's all a very bad dream and I'm gonna wake up."

"I'm sorry kiddo, but it ain't a dream," Bobby said and she groaned louder and wilder against her hands. Dean and Sam looked at each other, Dean murmuring that she was crazy.

"How come he was wearing a trench coat?" Kate asked all of sudden as she looked up at them.

"What?" Sam asked frowning his eyebrows.

"I had asked him why he was wearing a trench coat and where his wings were and he told me it was irrelevant," she explained.

"He was right, it's irrelevant," Dean replied as he stood up and went to the kitchen. Kate glared at him as he walked away.

"It's his vessel," Bobby replied pulling her attention back to him "His vessel was dressed like this so the winged-man decided to keep wearing those clothes."

"Vessel?" Kate asked "What do you mean exactly by vessel?"

"Meatsuit, if you prefer!" Dean replied as he came back with a beer in his hand.

"He is possessing a person?" Kate asked alarmed as she looked back and forth at Bobby and Sam.

"Yeah, this is why you can't see his wings," Sam replied.

"Well, yeah he can show them off once in a while like he did with this idjit there," Bobby said nodding his head at Dean who was leaning at a wall. Kate couldn't help but smile as she looked at Bobby when he called Dean an idjit. It reminded her of her old man.

"What kind of angels are they? I mean how can they even possess people? Isn't it the bad guys who do that kind of things?" She asked, face full of confusion.

"Hum yeah, in a way," Sam replied "Dean told us that Castiel's vessel had prayed for this to happen. So I guess they really need the person to be okay with being possessed by an angel. Demons, however, they won't be as careful of your wishes. If they want to possess you, they will."

"That's a very reassuring thing to tell me, thank you Sam," Kate replied with sarcasm.

"This isn't important," Dean said "What is important is that you go back to where you're from asap because we don't have time to babysit you or anyone else-"

"Babysit me? I never asked you to babysit me," Kate cut him off as she frowned her eyebrows at him.

"Yeah, well the trench coat angel did," Dean told her almost bitterly.

"Well, I don't care what the angel said or didn't say!" She stood up "I'm not going to stay here as you follow orders that you obviously don't want to and-" She was cut off by Sam who stand up.

"Kate, stop," he said "The thing is that you don't have anywhere to go," he told her gently as he motioned her to calm down and sit down but she didn't do anything so he sighed and continued "You don't even exist in this world. As far as I know, we're the only people who know that you do exist and that can really help you." She looked at him weighing the pros and the cons in her mind. "You have every right to walk out that door and to find a way back home, back your dimension on your own. But if you are honest with yourself you will know that this isn't the best thing to do." Kate kept her gaze locked with his before she sighed and sat down. Sam softly exhaled in relief.

"Don't you go thinking you're really good at manipulating my mind," she said pointing at the tall man "You just pointed out true facts..." She mumbled. Sam couldn't help have a little smile.

"Now that we've all agreed, I say we start digging a little bit," Bobby announced.

"Does that mean we put aside the breaking seals?" Sam asked looking at the old man.

"What? No, we better not if we want to avoid Armageddon," Bobby replied as Kate looked back and forth at the two men. Dean was staring at her when she turned her head to him and caught him staring at her. He didn't even look away.

"What?" She sharply asked.

"Nothing," he replied scoffing as he walked towards the middle of the room.

"Okay, Sam and Dean you keep your mind on the apocalypse and I will work on the lady's problem," Bobby said as he pointed books to the brothers "Those were the ones I was working on. Keep digging in them."

"Okay," Sam replied nodding his head. "I'm gonna make some coffee first."

"Can I help?" Kate asked as Sam was making his way to the kitchen.

"I think Sammy can make coffee without your help sweetheart," Dean replied sarcastically and she bit her tongue preventing herself from telling him to fuck off.

"Actually, I was talking about the research," she said and Dean huffed a little bit as he sat down behind Bobby's desk, put down his beer and opened a book.

"It's not an easy and pretty reading," Bobby told her.

"I'm sure it's not mister Singer but-"

"No mister Singer," he cut her off "Not at all." He shook his head. He hated when people called him Mister Singer. It made him feel like a teacher or some other crap. "Bobby."

"Okay hum sorry," she said before she coughed "Look, I've already figured it's going to be filled with dark, traumatizing things. But if we're two, the work will be done faster and I'll be able to get back home sooner." He stared at her and was hesitant. He wasn't sure that it was a good idea to show what their world was founded by to a woman from a world where supernatural didn't exist at the slightest. "Besides, I'm really good at researching. Very organized and very careful to every single facts," she told him with a little smile. He sighed and nodded.

"Alright, alright," he told her making her smile a little bit as he handed her the book that was in his hands. "We'll team up."

"Wait, Bobby! How am I supposed to translate all of this if you team up with her?" Dean asked as he looked up, his hands thrown at his sides.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you and Sam aren't excellent at Latin," Bobby sighed "You know what?" He said turning to Kate who looked up at him. "You'll work with Sam on finding a way back home and I'll work with him."

"Oh okay, no problemo," she replied nodding her head. Sam arrived right at this moment with a coffee carafe in one hand and he managed to hold four mugs in the other. He put it down on the coffee table and started pouring it.

"I hope you like your coffee black, Kate," Sam said as he looked up at her and she nodded.

"Bobby, do you have any notepad and pen?" She asked and he nodded as he walked around his desk to open a drawer.

"Do you trust her?" Dean asked in a very low whisper making sure that only Bobby heard him.

"We don't have the choice if angels told you she was to be protected," he replied in a whisper while Kate was telling Sam that he was going to pair with her because Dean can't work on his own.

"Still doesn't mean we have to trust her," Dean whispered before meeting Bobby's eyes as the old man stood up with a notepad in his hand and grabbed a pen on the desk.

"We'll see," Bobby just said as he walked to the woman. Dean stared at her for a long few seconds before he looked down at the book in front of him. He couldn't help but be suspicious about her. What if she was more than just some chick lost in their dimension? Should he really trust the angels about this one?

;;;;;;;;;;

Sam was almost hypnotized. He was staring at the little brunette as she was writing down things on the notepad that Bobby had given her almost two hours ago. She would read two pages or more before writing down a few words. Her gestures had caught his attention when he glanced up to look at Bobby when one of his phones rang for the fourth time. She was very methodic and very concentrated. Nothing seemed to distract her at all. The moment they sat down around the kitchen table to have more room to work than around the coffee table, she had written at least fifteen pages of words and the only times their eyes met it was when she was taking her mug of coffee to drink. He had given her small smiles, polite and gentle smiles. She hadn't returned any of them the first times. But when he sighed showing his tiredness and boredom, she had looked up and gave him an amused little smile that made him smile fully before she lowered her head back down to the book in front of her.

Sam was pulled from his thoughts when a beer was suddenly put down right in front of him. He looked up to see his brother standing there with a growing smirk on his face.

"Hum no, thanks. It's actually still a bit early for beer," Sam replied and Dean shrugged as he took the bottle of beer back. Sam noticed that his brother's hand was holding a bottle of whisky "Or any other kind of alcohol." Dean scoffed.

"You found anything?" He asked him nodding his head at his pile of books.

"Not really," Sam replied "Just that there's a bunch of dimensions and they are locked one from another so normally getting through them is impossible." Dean glanced at the brunette as she looked up.

"You've had better luck?" He asked her.

"Depends," she replied as she turned a few pages of Bobby's notepad and then ripped a few up. "This is for you and Bobby. And this is for my problem," she said as she handed them a few pages and kept a few for herself. The brothers looked at her with a confused and curious frown on their faces as Dean put down the bottle of beer and took the pages from her hand. He looked at them and read quickly to find that it was a few notes over the apocalypse and the breaking seals. He looked back and forth at her and the papers in his hand.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"There was a few references to the apocalypse and the breaking seals, so I thought why not write them down so you have them in hands in case you haven't read this book yet," she told him and he raised his eyebrows. "I've noted the pages of that book so you can check if you need more developed blahbla but this is a sort of sum up and key words and expressions."

"And this is good stuff," Dean said as he was skimming through her notes. Sam grabbed a few pages from Dean's hands and skimmed through them too.

"Good stuff? It's great stuff! It's huge," Sam exclaimed and Kate couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at his reaction. The brothers looked at her as she bit on her bottom lip trying to herself from laughing fully. Dean couldn't help but glance at her lips.

"What's going on?" Bobby asked from his seat next his desk.

"Kate," Sam said to Bobby "She found out that some seals don't weigh the same as others. And she found at least twenty seals and how they're supposed to happen. And damn a lot of other things."

"Where did you find all of this?" Bobby asked as he stood up and walked to them.

"Here," she showed the book laying in front of her "It talks about other dimensions and also their version of the apocalypse and apparently some are the exact same no matter the dimension." Bobby took the book and started looking at it while Dean gave the other pages to his brother and sat down on the chair between the brown-haired woman and Sam. He drank a very long sip of his bottle and Kate couldn't help but look at him when he did that.

"Well done kiddo," Bobby said pulling her attention back to him. She smiled up at him.

"I would suggest studying the Bible and every other religious books," she told him and Sam chuckled at her little enthusiastic advice.

"Yeah, but what about your problem? Did you find a way back home?" Bobby asked and she shook her head.

"I found basically the same than Sam. Nothing is supposed to go through dimensions, only powerful entities can make that happen and it has to be done very carefully or else. Oh and if there's no mojo on one side, there's no possibility of traveling through dimensions. Although some dimensions are connected through sort of little dimensions like Purgatory or Hell or something else called the Void," she said before shrugging "It's all very vague to be honest. But no one can go through dimensions, it's impossible so I don't really know..."

"No matter what," Dean started making Kate look at him "You made it to here, so you should be able to make it back there."

;;;;;;;

After hours of researches, Dean had gone outside to take care of his car and Kate was starting to get hungry. She looked up at Sam sitting right across from her. He was deep in his reading, his wavy hair falling on the upper part of his face. As if he felt her gaze, he looked up at her questioning her with his eyes.

"Aren't you a bit hungry?" She asked him and he couldn't help the little corner smile that grew on his face. He looked down at his watch and realized it was noon. Sure she'd get hungry. They were up for hours doing nothing but researching and drinking black coffee. He realized that not only they didn't have any breakfast this morning, she didn't even eat since she came out of nowhere yesterday.

"You must be starving," he blurted out and she chuckled nervously as she nodded.

"Just a little bit," she lied and Sam could see behind her lie. He stood up and walked to the fridge. There were only a few bottles of beer and two or three other things that were not eatable at all. He opened a few cupboards before turning around.

"I think it's time for grocery," he said as he looked at her. "I won't take very long."

"Can I come?" She asked. "I really need to refresh a little bit and to clear my mind."

"Hum yeah I suppose it's alright," he agreed "We could buy you some clothes too. I mean we don't even know how long you'll have to stay here."

;;;;;;;

When Kate and Sam walked out of Bobby's house, Dean was walking this way. He was wearing a dark blue mechanic suit, his hands were black with grease and he had a bit of grease on his forehead. Kate's eyes immediately met his when she walked by Sam's side towards Bobby's car. She didn't break the eye contact and neither did he until he arrived three steps away from them.

"Where are you going?" He asked his brother who had stopped walking.

"Bobby gave me his car keys, we're going in town to get a few things to eat. And also I thought it'd be good to buy Kate a few clothes." Dean glanced at the young woman in his little brother's too big clothes and he couldn't agree more.

"Alright but do you think she can go?" He asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Sam told him.

"I don't know, what if she tries to escape or something happens and you can't protect her. Or worse you can't protect yourself because she distracts you," Dean told Sam as Kate stared at him not two feet away.

"Or what if she hears you talking about her as if she wasn't there and she decides you can be a real jerk," Kate said interrupting Dean's little speech. The older brother turned his head to the woman and looked at her with a half glare half annoyed look.

"Alright, you know what? I think she-"Sam said before stopping himself "Kate, you will be just fine, right?" Sam said turning his head to look at her. She simply nodded as she glared at Dean who rolled his eyes before turning around to go back to wherever he had come from.

;;;;;

**Author's note :**

**Hello everybody!**

**So here is the second chapter of my first fanfiction! I've been hesitating for so long to publish one because I'm not so confident about my writting skills... Besides, I'm french and I wanted very badly to write this story in english for many reasons. But mainly because I'm first year student in an English degree and I thought it would help me improve my english :3 But also because I think fanfictions written in english reach more readers than the ones written in french... Also, I was wondering if someone could help me correct my typos and all those kind of things that might make the reading less smooth and also less enjoyable.**

**Okay, so I apologize for every single typos that made you cringe or else. And I truly hope that you will enjoy my story as much as I enjoy writing it :)**

**I've got a very ambitious and long project in my mind for this story. It's certainly going to be more than one stories depending on how this first one is received by you readers. So please, leave a review to tell me what you thought about it, to yell at me for making so many stupid typos or whatever! **

**Thank you very much for the first reviews, that really made my day!**

**A.**


	3. Chapter 3

After a rather quiet car trip to town, Sam had decided to bring Kate to a little diner restaurant before going to shopping since her stomach never stopped growling in the car. They had ordered their meals and Kate had noticed how very nice and polite Sam was to the old waitress.

"I'm sorry about Dean," he told her as he glanced at her. She was looking through the window. She shrugged at his words. "We've just got so much to do lately and well he just came back from-" Sam stopped himself abruptly and shifted a bit in his position making Kate look at him. She looked at his facial expression and understood that something quite important and hard had happened.

"How did you even decide to be a... a hunter?" She asked in a whisper trying to change the subject. "Are monsters known by the whole world here? And being a hunter of monsters is just a casual job?"

"What? No. No it's not like that," he replied looking a bit around making sure that no one could hear their conversation. "The whole world isn't aware of what's really happening… Of the supernatural. Just some people knows. And well, most of those who know are hunters. They, well, they hunt those creatures to help people, to save them. It's not a casual job that is paid. It's a crappy job, we're not paid, we have to travel all around the country wherever something weird happens and it's not that easy." He shook his head. The waitress arrived right at that moment with the plates they had ordered. Chicken with salad and soda for Sam, and a cheeseburger with French fries and soda for Kate. Kate asked if she could have some ketchup and the waitress nodded saying she was coming right back. Kate looked at her plate happy to know she was going to satisfy her hunger. Sam looked at her before he started eating.

"So you risk your own life to save complete strangers... And you get to travel all around the country, that's pretty cool and heroic," she said nodding. "But isn't it hard though? I mean your family must be scared like hell when you leave them for a case…"

"Hum yeah well the only family Dean and I have is Bobby," Sam replied. Kate looked at him quietly as she was a bit taken by surprise.

"You don't have... parents or hum other siblings maybe?" She asked in a little voice.

"No... They all died," he just replied and Kate looked down feeling bad to have brought out this subject. Sam looked at her "Hey, it's okay. Don't feel bad, it happened a long time ago. And Dean and I are okay."

"Okay?" She said looking up at him "Your brother spends his time drinking. I don't even think I've seen him drink anything but alcohol ever since I arrived here. Even in his coffee he poured alcohol! "

"Yeah I've noticed too... He wasn't like that before... It's just since he came back..." He said.

"And you…"

"What about me?" He asked.

"You are as okay as your brother is," she told him and he shook his head.

"What makes you say that?" He gave a chuckle that Kate could say was forced. He was also avoiding her eyes.

"You're kind," she said as his eyes looked up to meet hers. "You're too kind. People who are that kind are usually people who went through a lot and don't wish to see anyone else go through the same pain." Sam stared at her silently for a few seconds before the waitress came back with the ketchup.

;;;;;;

After a few minutes, Kate had finished her cheeseburger and she was eating her French fries while Sam was finishing his salad. They had been getting to know each other a little bit and Sam was rather happy to have a conversation where not any word connected to monsters or the end of the world was pronounced. They talked about university and she was surprised to find out he went to Stanford. She told him about France and how she thought she was going to die from homesickness the first few months. She told him about her family never mentioning her father which caught Sam's attention but he didn't say anything about it. She asked him if he had a girlfriend and he told her that this job didn't allow him to have any girlfriend. She told him that it wasn't too bad. She told him that a few days ago she had found out that her boyfriend had cheated on her. He had said he was sorry but then she laughed it off, saying that she wasn't really in love with him so she didn't care. She was just pissed that he had cheated on her because she was starting to have feelings for him. She asked him if he ever had the chance to fall completely in love with a girl and he said yes with a big smile before stopping for a second.

"We can change the subject if you want," she told him but he shook his head.

"No, no it's okay," he told her "It's just... It was a few years ago, I had a girlfriend… I was crazy about her, completely crazy about her… She was perfect," he said and Kate just looked at him with a soft smile. "I met her at Stanford and it was kind of love at first sight… We dated and hum… I was going to propose," he looked up at her and met her soft brown eyes "But like I said this job doesn't allow you to have any girlfriend." Her smile turned into a sympathy one.

"What about Dean?" She asked not sure if she could ask him what had happened exactly to make their story end.

"Dean?" Sam said before he let out a light scoff "Dean doesn't know what a girlfriend is. As far as I know he's only had three girlfriends in his whole life and his story with them didn't last longer than a week," he told her and she raised her eyebrows. "He's understood faster and better than me that this kind of life doesn't mix well with a lot of other things."

"Then why did you… Why did you choose it?"

"We didn't… We were raised like that," he replied and she frowned her eyebrows "Our father raised us like that," he took a deep breath and let it out before he decided to tell her everything. "My mother was killed by a demon when I was a baby and well, our father decided to hunt down this demon. It obsessed him. He wanted to catch this demon and to avenge our mother death so much that he forgot how to properly raise his kids. He-he raised us to be the best damn hunters so we could protect ourselves and also so we could keep on hunting. He was rougher towards Dean than me, though," Sam told her and she listened to him just as good as he had listened to her when she told him about her life "Dean was always the one taking care of me, watching out for me and making sure I was safe but also happy." Kate's lips curled into a soft smile realizing that Dean wasn't as bad as he let on. "And well, my father was so obsessed by this demon that it killed him…"

"The demon killed him or the obsession?" She asked in a soft whisper.

"Both," Sam replied "And ever since that moment, our lives are even crappier than before."

"My father died too," she said "It was lung cancer. He-he used to smoke a lot and when he found out he had that, all he could think about was that old friend that introduced him to smoking. He damned him for hours that day," she let out a little laugh as she remembered "My mother didn't want to visit him at all because they were divorced ever since I was seven years old. She ignored him when he called her to say he was sorry it didn't work out between the two of them. She… I-I love her but she was a real bitch." She shook her head "My father was the one to encourage me to get the hell out of my hometown. He knew how I hated that hometown after they got divorced mainly because he left. He encouraged me to do my studies in Paris."

"He seemed like a good person," Sam said softly. She nodded.

"Your father too," she replied and noticed the expression on his face saying that he didn't really think so "He just wanted to avenge what destroyed your family, Sam. If he didn't love you or your mother he wouldn't have done any of that."

"I suppose," Sam murmured. "Why did you take a year break from University?"

"My father… He passed away five months ago. And I wanted to go back to my roots for him… I went to Dallas where we spent the two first years of my life, then I went to Lawrence where he lived after the divorce. And well then I stayed with my mother… More or less."

"You were heading to Lawrence when you got pulled to this dimension, right?" He asked her and she nodded.

"I was going to visit him," she replied.

"My mother is buried in Lawrence too," he told her "Well, not really but her tomb is there. She died in a fire so there wasn't really anything left but our father still made a tomb for her there before he started to learn more about demons."

;;;;;;

After their lunch, Sam and Kate decided to go buy all the things they had to buy. Dean had called Sam twice asking him to bring some pie with him and to hurry up. Then, Sam had a phone call from a woman. Kate had noticed Sam's face change when he saw the name on his phone screen. Since, they had already done the grocery shopping together, Sam told her to do the clothes shopping on her own as he drove her to the mall. He gave her a credit card and told her that she could buy everything she needed and gave her his cellphone. He told her he'd call on it in two hours utmost so she would tell him when he could come and pick her up. Kate had realized that this young man who had told her hunting didn't allow any girlfriend, surely was in rush to meet that woman who called him.

After half an hour picking up clothes in one big lady shop and getting stares from almost everyone because of Sam's too big clothes that she was wearing, Kate decided to pay for those clothes and to get changed but first she went to the Victoria's secret shop right across the shop she was in.

She was now wearing a pair of dark blue tight denim and a casual black long sleeved-shirt with a simple parka coat on. She had even taken off her converse sneakers and bought a pair of biker boots. She felt more than good with new underwear on and new clothes. However, she decided to buy some more lingerie and she started to wander in the Victoria's secret shop when the phone in her coat pocket rang. She picked up.

"Yes?"

"Sam?"

"No, it's not Sam… Dean is that you?"

"Yeah. Why you're the one answering on Sam's phone?" He asked her.

"Because he gave it to me and told me to call him when I'm done shopping," she replied as she took a red lacy bra that looked very nice. She heard him groan.

"Why did he leave you on your own?" He asked her and not knowing if Dean knew that Sam had some kind of secret girlfriend she decided to tell him something else.

"I think he was too embarrassed to come and buy some lingerie with me," she told him. Dean was silent for a long while which made Kate frown. "Hello? You're still there?"

"Hum yeah," he replied hesitantly and Kate could feel that it was embarrassing him actually. Or exciting him.

"Okay, well I'm kind of busy buying myself some bra so if you could call later, that'd be nice," she told him.

"What I thought girls could do multitask?" He said almost teasing.

"Well, I will kind of need my two hands to try on those things," she replied "See you later." She said hanging up on him before he had the chance to say anything else.

;;;;;;

When Kate and Sam came back at Bobby's, the old man was almost shocked to see all the things they had bought.

"What am I gonna do with all this food?" Bobby asked as he helped them get all the bags out of the car.

"Seeing as I might stay here for more than just a weekend, I convinced Sam to buy as much as possible so I can cook a few things for us to eat," Kate replied.

"Still. It's way too much," Bobby said as they walked in the house.

"Nah, half of it is for me," she replied and Sam chuckled.

"And I see you've bought yourself some clothes," Bobby said as they put down the food bags on the kitchen table.

"Yeah, Sam was generous enough to give me his credit card and buy as much as possible," she replied "The bags with my new clothes are on the backseat. I'm gonna go and take them."

Right when Kate left the house, Dean entered the kitchen from the backdoor there. His eyes widened at the number of bags on the table.

"You bought the whole grocery shop?" Dean told his brother.

"Kate wanted to buy as much as possible," he replied "Did you guys eat by the way?"

"Yeah, I bought two pizzas hours ago," Dean replied "There's some left overs if you want."

"Pizza leftovers? I call dibs on them," Kate exclaimed as she put her bags down on the couch and walked in the kitchen. Dean glanced at her before he did a double take. She wasn't wearing Sam's clothes anymore. She was wearing clothes that not only were her size but held her silhouette perfectly. She had very nice curves right where there should be curves. She wasn't too thin and she wasn't too fat either. Dean was sure that she was the kind of girl who worked out just enough to stay healthy and not because she wanted to get as thin as a toothpick. Dean checked her up and down as she took the plate with the pizza leftovers and stuffed half of a piece in her mouth. She chewed on it before she turned around and noticed Dean's eyes on her. "What?" she said her as her mouth was full. Well she wasn't very glamorous at that moment but it didn't bother him, not at all.

"You guys didn't have lunch?" He asked as he looked at her.

"We did," Sam replied as he started putting things in the cupboards. "Katie just really likes pizza." Dean's head immediately turned to his little brother.

"Ka_tie_?" He said as the woman grabbed a second piece of pizza and walked to the men and helped Bobby and Sam as they put the products where they were supposed to be put.

"Hum, it slipped out," Sam said as he looked at the woman "It doesn't bother you if I call you Katie, does it?"

"Nope, it's cool," she replied as she kept on chewing on the pizza.

"Katie, what's that for?" Bobby asked her as he showed her one of the products she had bought. Dean looked at Bobby shocked that he was using this nickname too. He looked at Sam who gave him a confused look. Dean shook his head and walked out of the kitchen. He sat down on the couch right next to her shopping bags.

He looked down at them and took the pink one with the famous name on it. He glanced at the three people in the kitchen, talking as they put things at their right places. He turned his attention back to the bag and glanced inside before taking an article in his hand only to receive a crisps package on the head. He looked up and met Kate's eyes.

"Don't," she told him. He scoffed as he put away the bag.

;;;;;;

One hour. She spent one hour trying to fall asleep but nothing happened. She was now laid on her back looking up at the ceiling. Bobby had given her a little room upstairs so she could have her intimacy but being alone there wasn't comforting her at all. She couldn't help but think too much about everything that was happening to her. She decided to give up on sleeping and got out of the bed. She had nothing on but her underwear so she decided to take Sam's large shirt and put it on before she walked out of the room. She did her best to make no noise at all as she walked downstairs, barefeet. When she arrived downstairs, she found the living room empty and realized that the boys must have their own room too.

She walked in the kitchen and opened the fridge, happy to see that thanks to her and Sam it was full of many good things and not just beers or jars filled with lamb bloods or whatever else. She grabbed a beer and closed the fridge before she turned around and gasped.

"You scared the crap out of me," she breathed out as she put one of her hands on her chest.

"Sorry sweetheart."

"Could you not call me sweetheart please?" She asked annoyed as she stared at Dean who only smirked before he walked right towards her. She stepped back and was blocked by the fridge.

"Why not?" He asked her in a husky voice as he was leaning his face down as he put one of his hand on the fridge right behind her "Sammy calls you Katie. Can't I give you nickname too?" Kate could smell the alcohol in his breath. She looked up to meet his eyes.

"You're drank," she told him.

"Not more than usual," he replied. His eyes wandered down "Isn't that my brother's shirt?"

"That was the only thing in reach to put on before I left my room," she told him and he looked up at her eyes. "Could you move?" He looked at her for a moment before finally stepping back. She walked to the couch and he grabbed his bottle strong whisky before he followed her.

"Bad dream?" He asked her.

"No, I just couldn't sleep at all," she replied before she opened her beer and drank a sip of it. He walked to the couch and sat a foot away from her. His gaze was glued to the opposite wall "You?" She asked and he scoffed before drinking a long sip of his bottle. "I'm pretty sure this is the bottle I bought with Sam and there was much more liquid in it." He turned his head to look at her and Kate felt a bit uncomfortable. His eyes were intense but his whole face was emotionless. "What are you trying to drink down?"

"What?"

"It's pretty obvious something is bothering you enough to make you drink alcohol that much," she told him and he stared at her. "What is it?"

"I don't think that's any of your problem," he replied sharply. And she nodded as she stood up. "Where are you going?"

"Somewhere else," she replied "I can feel that you hate the fact that I'm here, Dean. Not only now, but ever since I arrived I can feel that you've got something against me and," she stopped as she stared at him "You know what? Nevermind. I'm gonna head to my room. Goodnight," she told him. She walked towards the staircase when Dean suddenly grabbed her wrist and turned her around before he pinned her to the wall. The bottle of beer dropped on the little carpet making almost no noise.

She didn't say anything as she stared at him. His eyes were gazing all over her face as he had a blade on her neck and his other hand was holding her hand against the wall. She put her free hand on his forearm.

"You're right I've got something against you," he whispered as he was now staring right into her eyes. "And I don't care that Sam or Bobby or Castiel for that matter thinks you're an innocent we've got to protect. I don't care at all, sweetheart," he glanced down at her lips before looking right back up into her eyes. He was holding the blade against her skin with force and it hurt her a bit. She hadn't even winced at that, keeping her face strong and hard as she looked at him. "I have my eyes on you, and if you do one little slip, I will not have any problem sliding your throat open. You won't be the first anyway. Do you hear me?" Kate didn't say anything. "I said do you hear me?" She felt him push on the blade and cutting her a little bit. This time she almost winced but she didn't.

"Yes," she replied in a whisper. He stared at her before he let go of her. He stepped back and stared at her as she put her hand on her throat, her head lowed. She didn't even glance at him as she made her way upstairs, locking her bedroom's door behind her just in case. Because whatever was happening in this man's mind, it was clearly messed up and the feeling of safety she had started to feel around those three men was starting to vanish.

;;;;;

**Author's note :**

**I couldn't stop myself... I wanted to keep that part for another day but I thought that this part was pretty much more interesting than the previous one. So here you go. As you can see I am focusing on settling the bonds and everythign first of all but don't worry, I'm not forgetting the whole plot of this amazing tv show. I am just starting and very soon, the boys are going to go back on their routine and as for Kate well you'll find out ;)**

** Oh and please review to let me knwo what you thought and to encourage me to continue if that is what you wish for.**

**Thank you very much for reading !**

**A.**


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Kate woke up after a very rough night. She had spent the whole night thinking about running away from this place since her life was threatened by that hunter. But what Sam had told her was true: on her own she won't be able to find a way back home. So if she has to go through Dean's threatening behavior towards her in order to get back home, then she could do it. She had survived being a bullied kid, she could survive this.

She walked to the second bathroom that was upstairs with clothes and a little bag with her necessary to get herself prepared for the day. She took a quick shower, put on her underwear, the denim pants she was wearing the previous day and a simple blue t-shirt. As she looked at herself in the little mirror above the sink, she noticed the little cut that was on her throat. She immediately recalled the exact events from last night. She sighed before she looked for a first-aid kit. She found a little one under the sink and took a band-aid. She put it on her neck and looked at herself in the mirror. She felt stupid for not defending herself but the thing is that she could feel that this Dean character was going through something more difficult than she could imagine. Still, if he didn't have any blade, she would have kick him right where she kicked Sam at her arrival.

She looked in her little toilet-bag trying to find a toothbrush. When she didn't, she realized it was the thing she knew she had forgotten to buy when she was shopping. She sighed and decided to put some eye-liner on. She wasn't a big fan of make-up but she couldn't live without some eye-liner. She looked at her wet hair that reached a little bit past her shoulders and decided to let it get dry on its own. She glanced at the band-aid on her throat and decided to go back to her room to take a little scarf to put on. She didn't want what happened last night to be the topic of the day.

When she arrived downstairs, she heard the three men talking about something. She looked down to the carpet where her beer had dropped last night and found no beer but a large dark round. She assumed the liquid poured there. She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Dean saying they'll be gone for a week upmost. She walked to the living room and looked at the three men. Bobby was the first one to notice her.

"Morning Kiddo," he told her. The two brothers turned to look at her.

"Morning Katie," Sam said smiling "Slept well?"

"Good morning," she replied "And well, not really," she tried not to look at Dean but she could feel his gaze on her. "But some coffee will make it all right."

"I'll pour you some," Sam said as he walked to the kitchen "Want some breakfast too I suppose?"

"Hum yeah, why not?" She replied as she walked to the kitchen, passing right by Dean whose eyes were glued to her. She sat down and Sam brought her a cup of coffee.

"Want bacon and sausage?" He asked her.

"No, a bowl of cereal will be enough," she replied and he nodded as he brought everything in front of her. "Thank you, Sam."

"You're okay?" Sam asked her and she looked up at him.

"Yeah, why're you asking?"

"You seem a little off this morning," he told her as he sat down on the chair right next to her. "Did you have a bad dream or something you wanna talk about?"

"No," she replied after a second of hesitation "I'm okay. Just a little bit tired and… I really wanna go back home."

"Don't worry about it. You will get back home," he reassured her and she gave him an almost smile as she nodded.

"Oh by the way," she said as she put a spoon full of cereals in her mouth "Toothbrush."

"What?" Sam asked as her words were not really audible through her chewing. She swallowed.

"Toothbrush. That's what we forgot to buy yesterday," she told him and he let out a light chuckle.

"I'll give you one," he told her and she looked at him with a slightly exaggerated expression of disgust. "One that I haven't used yet, Kate."

"Oh alright then. Thanks."

"The boys are leaving on a case, Kate," Bobby said as he walked in the kitchen.

"A case?" She asked looking at Sam.

"Hunting case," he told her and she nodded.

"That means we're gonna spend our time together to search for a way to send you back home," Bobby said as she started eating while nodding her head "And I've had an idea last night… Maybe I could ask for Pamela to check on you."

"Who's Pamela?" Kate asked after swallowing.

"A powerful psychic," he replied as he crossed his arms on his chest "She could be helpful." And Sam tilted his head in agreement.

"You really think a psychic could find out what to do while the angels don't know any crap about that?" Dean asked as he arrived behind them. Kate glanced at him before looking right back down at her bowl. Sam noticed her reaction and he frowned confused.

"I don't know anymore than you do Dean, but we've gotta look at every possibility," Bobby said as he looked at the dirty-blond-haired man. "Anyway, that's not your problem. You've got a case to go to right now."

"Yeah, right," Sam said as he stood up. "I'll go pack my bag and get you this toothbrush."

"What's with the scarf kiddo?" Bobby asked suddenly realizing that she had a scarf on while it wasn't a very chilly day.

"Hum," Kate started and she could feel Dean's gaze on her. She could feel him waiting for her answer. She knew she shouldn't keep what happened last night a secret but she also knew that he was going to leave for a few days and if she was lucky enough, once he'll come at Bobby's she'll be back to her world. Besides, as nice as Sam and Bobby are towards her for the moment, they may take Dean's side and even threaten her life even more. "I'm a little bit cold."

"Then why don't you put on a warmer top?" Sam asked as he was standing in the doorway and she looked down at her t-shirt and cursed herself in her mind.

"I wanted very badly to put that t-shirt on," she blurted out "I find it cute, don't you?" Sam and Bobby frowned. What was even cute in a simple blue t-shirt?

"I'll never understand women," Bobby said as he walked out of the kitchen shaking his head. Sam chuckled as he left to pack his bag. Kate's eyes immediately turned to Dean only to find him staring back at her. His gaze was intense and the fact that he had beautiful deep green eyes didn't help her feel any more comfortable. They heard Bobby answering a phone call from some hunter but they never broke the eye contact.

"Is it a big one?" Dean asked her suddenly in almost a whisper.

"What?" She asked.

"The cut. Is it a big one?" He asked her, his eyes still locked with hers.

"Not that big," she simply replied. He nodded and looked away, sighing. She stared at him wondering what was wrong with him when Bobby hung up.

"Balls!" Bobby exclaimed before he looked up to find Dean still there. "What are you doing? Your brother went to pack his bag and you're standing here making small talk! Hurry up you idjit!"

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"You're sure this Pamela won't be upset, right?" Kate asked as Bobby and she walked out of his car heading to the psychic's house. It had been a day since the Winchesters had left for their case and after many researches, Bobby had called Pamela to tell her about Kate. The woman accepted to see her if it wasn't going to take another one of her five senses away. Kate had asked Bobby and he had told her that she had helped him and the brothers on a case that made her lose her eyes.

"I'm sure," he replied.

"But you said the last time you asked for her help, you got her eyes burned out!" She said in a shouted whisper.

"Yeah, well it doesn't mean she won't help you or take her whole anger at me on you," he replied as they were now standing in front of the psychic's frontdoor. Bobby knocked loudly and Kate took a deep breath.

The door opened after a woman shouted that she was coming and Kate was more than surprised to find herself facing a woman who looked just… Ordinary. Pamela was wearing a simple black top and black pants, and boots that reached her knees. The only item that made her look maybe a bit more like a psychic was the sunglasses that she was wearing while she was in her house. Aside from that she looked like the casual cool woman that lived a rock 'n roll life.

"You're late Bobby Singer," the woman said immediately as Kate stared at her.

"My watch tells me that I'm in time. You're too early," he snapped back at her and she scoffed before she turned her head to Kate.

"And this must be the impossible girl from another world," Pamela said as she reached for Kate who immediately pulled her hand out.

"Yeah, this is me," Kate said as Pamela grabbed her hand with her two hands and a smirk appeared on her face.

"For sure, you're not from here," Pamela said as she rubbed her hands against Kate's hand "You give off a very different kind of energy… Very different and very sweet," Kate looked down at their hands and wondered if what this woman was telling her was true. "Well, let's get inside," Pamela said giving her a smile before she let go of Kate's hands and walked in followed by Kate and Bobby.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

After half almost an hour of little chat to explain the problem, Pamela asked Kate to sit right across from her so she could hypnotize her but it didn't work. The second time, Bobby's phone rang which distracted the two brunettes. The third time, it was still ineffective. Pamela took off her glasses and rubbed her fingers on her eyelids before she decided to ask Kate to lay down on one of the two sofas that was in her living room. She tried to get into her memory lane but once again nothing happened and Pamela knew that it was Kate's fault. The young woman was not concentrated at all. Especially after Bobby went to talk on the phone with the two brothers.

"I need you to concentrate," Pamela told her and Kate nodded and tried to concentrate but all she could think of was how weird the situation was. "Okay, you're not concentrated at all."

"I'm sorry, it's just-"

"Weird?" Pamela cut her off. "Yes, I know. Especially if where you come from there's no things like that."

"There are. But I kinda never believed in those kind of things back then," Kate said as she sat up.

"Kate, it doesn't even work here since you can't get your mind on a full concentration," Pamela told her as Bobby came back.

"I was talking with Sam and Dean," he said "They're apparently facing a bitter witch."

"Perfect timing. Go all witchy for Halloween," Pamela said and Kate frowned.

"Witches exist in this world too? Like real witches?"

"What they didn't tell you?" Pamela asked her surprised.

"No, I-I thought there was only like demons, angels and maybe some other monsters. But witches? Come one the next time you're gonna tell me that werewolves are real too!" Kate said letting out a scoffing chuckle. When she realized the two others were quiet, she stopped and looked back and forth at them. "Werewolves exist?"

"Honey, every little monsters and creatures exist in this world," Pamela told her.

"Pamela!" Bobby exclaimed.

"What? She needs to know if she's gonna stay here until we find a way to send her back," Pamela replied as she turned around to face the old man.

"Vampires? Werewolves? Ghosts?" Kate said.

"As real as us," Pamela replied.

"How is it that no one knows about them?" Kate asked with frowned eyebrows.

"Most of the people are stupid in this dimension, Kate," Pamela told her.

"At least, that's another thing in common with my dimension," she said making Pamela laugh.

"Okay, you know what? Hypnotizing you doesn't work. So I think we're going to spice things up just a little bit."

"What do you mean?" Bobby asked Pamela.

"For starters, you can leave. I'll call you when I'm done with her," the psychic said as she stood up and then turned at Kate "And you and I are going to do some witchcraft. After all this is Halloween."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Kate remembered very well the time she and her cousin Alina, had tried to cast some spells. They were sixteen by then and all Kate wanted was to cast a spell on her mother to make her want to move to Lawrence so she could leave that terrible school and get closer to where her father lived. Her cousin wanted better grades and she wanted her little sister to obey her completely. All they ended up having was a month of no going out and no watching the new tv show of that moment Buffy the Vampire Slayer anymore. Simply because after they stopped the fire in Kate's bedroom before it went wilder, their mothers had found out that they were trying to do some witchcraft. They immediately blamed the fantasy series.

This time, sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room where they had pulled the curtains shut to be in the dark, Kate realized that the witchcraft she had tried with Alina was absolutely nothing to the one Pamela and she were doing. The ingredients, the patterns to draw, the Latin things to say. It was all different from the five little candles and so-called magic powder they had bought in the prank-shop. But, things got even more real when Pamela brought a knife.

"Alright, light the candle," the psychic told her as she stood outside the round weird pattern drawn on the floor. Kate did as told and looked up at the psychic. "Now, get in the middle of that pattern and put the candle right in front of you." Kate did so and Pamela whose sunglasses were on the top of her head gave her a little smile. "Take off your scarf. Bobby's not here for quite a while and I am blind so I won't see the cut Dean did to you."

"How…"

"I'm a very good psychic," Pamela told her with a wink. It was weird to see a woman whose eyes were actually white fake eyes wink and joke around that much. Kate threw the scarf away and looked at Pamela. "And now, your arm." Kate gave her arm to Pamela and understood immediately that she was going to cut her. "Just a little bit heeere," Pamela said and Kate winced a little bit when the blade traced a thin line on her forearm. "Just enough to make some blood drop on the pattern. Don't worry, you're nto the only one who's going to lose some blood," she told her before cutting her palm too and letting a few drops of blood fall on the pattern. "Okay, ready?"

"I can't back down now, huh?"

"Read the spell," Pamela told her with a little smirk. Kate coughed before she read the spell out loud. Once she finished she looked up at Pamela.

"What? There's no flashing light or something like that?" Kate asked "That's a little bit disappointing."

"Wait," Pamela whispered "Can you hear?"

"Hear what?" Kate asked in a whisper as she felt a shiver run down her spine.

The sound of harsh hoof steps became more and more audible for the two women. Kate turned her head to look at the doorway leading to the staircase as it was coming from there.

"What is it?" Kate asked, fear filling her voice as the steps were louder and louder.

"Whatever it is, it is coming to us," Pamela told her as Kate turned her head to look at her "And there's something else."

"What?"

"I can see," Pamela told her when suddenly the sound of steps stopped.

"You can see me?"

"I can see everything," Pamela told her.

"But your eyes are still white. How… How…" Kate coughed and tried to speak but no sound would come out of her mouth. She gripped her throat and tried to scream but nothing happened.

"Kate, I think I know what this is… We made a terrible mistake… I shouldn't have made us do this spell… Its-"Pamela said before a force slid the two women apart. Kate's back landed on the couch while Pamela's back landed on the opposite wall.

Suddenly, the steps started again. Kate turned to look at the doorway and gulped when her eyes fell on the giant shadow on the floor of what was coming downstairs.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

_**At Bobby Singer's.**_

Bobby's eyes were glued to one of his books when his phone rang again. The old man could always lost count on the number of phonecalls he got per day. He never complained but there were times when he wished he could have some peace because as much as he liked helping all those hunters out there, he also liked having some free time out of hunting or researching or answering this damn phone because some hunters don't know how to get a book and research on their own.

"Yeah?" He replied grumbling.

"Bobby, it's Dean."

"Dean," Bobby sighed "What can I do to you? You don't remember how to take care of a witch?" He said sarcastically.

"Wow, you're in a bad mood," Dean said on the other end and Bobby rolled his eyes "Did the girl do something to get you mad?"

"Kate didn't do anything, Dean. She's at Pamela's right now actually-"

"You let Pamela on her own with that girl?" Dean cut him off. Bobby slid away the book he was reading and stood up from his chair.

"Yeah, I did, Dean. Got a problem with my decision?"

"Bobby, we're still not sure if we can trust her. You can't let Pamela on her own with a stranger we don't know nada about her!" Dean told him and Bobby frowned. Sure they didn't know as much as they wanted about that girl. But Bobby had a feeling she could be trusted and Pamela didn't show any kind of resentment about her. As a matter of fact, Pamela seemed to like and trust that girl pretty quickly.

"Pamela wouldn't have asked me to leave them two alone if that girl, whose name is Kate by the way, wouldn't be trustworthy. So stop judging my point of view you idjit and tell me what you called for!" Dean stayed silent for a short moment and then sighed.

"Sam and I had a little visit from the angels," Dean said "Castiel and one of his douche friend called Uriel. And apparently the case we're on is one of the 66 seals."

"Balls!" Bobby exclaimed.

"It's the raising of Samhain, you heard about it?" Dean told him and Bobby frowned as he actually remembered having heard or read something about it.

"Sounds familiar," he replied as he looked down at the pages on his desk; the ones that Kate had written down. He frowned as he took one in his hand.

"Yeah, well the douchebag Uriel is a specialist," Dean said "And-"

"Dean, you fucking idjit!" Bobby cut him off.

"Excuse me?" Dean asked.

"Shut up! The raising of Samhain, she had written it down! Kate had written it down when she did her first searching the other day!" Dean stayed silent.

"She didn't when it was going to happen I suppose so-"

"She did! Once Samhain rises, he is able to summon creatures from the depths of the Pit and unleash all these morbid entities on the world. On the final day of Celtic Harvest," Bobby told him as he read the paper "Anyway, she added a little note on the side… The demon can be fooled by people wearing masks?"

"That sounds a bit unrealistic," Dean said on the other end. "Anyway, I'm gonna tell Sam all of this. It might help us prevent this town to get burned off the map."

"What?"

"Uriel, the specialist, he's going to destroy this town if we don't kill off the witch in time."

"Then what are you doing on the phone with me? Go get rid of that witch now!" Bobby shouted at him before he hung up on him.

He looked down at the page in his hand and took the other pages before he sat down and read them completely. Every page showing him more and more how helpful that little brown-haired had been. He glanced at his phone and decided to call Pamela to see how everything was going on there.

He dialed the number and waited. No answer. He decided to call a second time hoping he wasn't disturbing them on whatever they were doing. Nothing again. He frowned. He looked at his watch and realized that Pamela was supposed to call him an hour ago no matter what. He dialed her number a third time and cursed when there was still no answer. He threw his phone on his desk, cursed loudly and stood up to go to Pamela's as quickly as possible.

**Author's note :**

**Here is another chapter for you dear readers :)! Sure there's no much scenes with our two favorite boys but I truly think that it makes the story more realistic. The thing is that I think that if a character had to come from nowhere on the show, the same way Kate did, the boys wouldn't be the ones watching after her. Bobby would be the one watchinG after her, helping her out with her problems,... At least for the beginning I think that'd go like that! But don't worry, the boys are coming back at Bobby's after they've solved this case and there'll be plenty more of scenes with Kate and them ;) I just really want to stick as closely as possible to the main plot of the show but I still want to make this story as original as possible !**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait to read your reviews! By the way I want to sincerely thank each of the persons who took time to let a review. Your reviews were very kind and they encouraged me more than ever to write more and to update as often as possible! You guys are awesome !****And thank you very much for those who corrected a few msitakes of mine, I took note of them for next time. Oh and sorry for the mistakes of this chapter... I think I might have done more than on the previous chapter since I didn't have time to re-read...**

**I hope to update the next chapter tomorrow so stay tuned!**

**Love,**

**A.**


	5. Chapter 5

The whole room was gloomy as if all the light and the colors had been sucked out of the place in the blink of an eye. The temperature had dropped a few degrees too and even the litte particular smell of a habited house had disappeared, replaced by a distinct lack of smell. And, the feeling of safety that Kate had felt ever since her first step in the psychic's house was suddeny gone.

Kate's gaze was glued to the shadow on the floor a few feet away from her as the sound of steps stopped. The shadow stayed frozen as if it was waiting for something. The shadow was a massive one and there were two horns easily noticeable. Kate didn't know what was in the staircase and she sure as hell didn't want to know what it was.

Hearing a few coughs, Kate turned her head to look at the woman across from her. She stood up and walked quickly towards her. Pamela rubbed the back of her head and looked up at Kate.

"You're okay?" Kate asked but no sound came out of her mouth. She tried again and Pamela put her free hand up stopping her.

"Don't bother, you won't be able to talk," Pamela told her in a whisper as she stood up slowly. Kate looked at her with a frowned expression.

"_What the hell is going on?"_ Kate tried to articulate enough to make Pamela understand her.

"We get out of here and then I'll tell you, come on," Pamela whispered to her as she took Kate's hand in hers and turned around to go to the backdoor, avoiding the staircase.

Once the two women were outside, Kate stopped abruptly. The outside was as gloomy as the inside. A sort of gloomy dark blue. Pamela turned to look at Kate and sighed.

"Look Kate, we need to get far from here for now, okay? I'd really want to watch the sky too, you know, I've been dreaming to see it again but later okay? When we'll be at a safer place," Kate stared at Pamela and then nodded at her.

As they ran away into the empty streets, Kate's thoughts were rushing and crashing in her mind. It seemed like the longer she was in this supernatural world, the more troubles she got.

;;;;;;;

"Pamela? Kate?" Bobby shouted after breaking in his old friend's house. He found the witchcraft settlement the women had done in the middle of the living room and he frowned. He shouted out their names for the second time spinning around hoping to see one of them get out of wherever they were. There was no answer at all. He walked to the witchcraft settlement, bent down and took the open book that was next to the drawn pattern. He glanced at the pattern and then looked back into the open pages of the book. He skimmed the lines and then stopped when he realized what he was reading.

"Damn!" He exclaimed as his free hand went immediately on his forehead. He started to rub it anxiously before he put down the book and looked down at his watch. He had just a couple of hours before him to bring them back before they were locked there forever.

;;;;;;;;;

Kate grabbed Pamela's arm and made her spin around. She stared at her and tried to shout at her, she groaned inside in frustation of not being able to speak. She decided to stick to the exagerated articulation.

"_Tell me. Now. What is going on?_" Pamela glanced behind Kate and considered that they were enough far away from her house.

"Okay," Pamela told her sighing "The spell I-_we_ did, it was supposed to make you go into a sort of trance and link me to you so I could travel through your memory lane. It was just a way for me to kind of see what exactly happened to you. It was going to give me answers on how all of this exactly happened to you. The thing is that I had competely forgotten that you don't do witchcraft on the night of Halloween, never," she said and Kate opened her mouth ready to say something sarcastic about Halloween when she remembered she couldn't say a word. She opted to only ask a simple question.

"_Why?_"

"Because, Halloween isn't just a party, Kate. It's the end of the harvest season you know, it's the night when the dead come back to visit the living," Pamela told her and Kate's eyes got big as she remembered something she had heard about back in her world and also read at Bobby's a couple of days ago.

"_The start of the darker half of the year,_" she articulated and Pamela frowned her eyebrows.

"The start of the darker half of the year, is that what you're saying?" Pamela asked and Kate nodded frantically.

"_One of the 66 seals before the Apocalypse,_" Kate articulated but Pamela stared at her with wide eyes this time not understanding a word at all.

"Can you repeat that slowler?" Pamela asked her and Kate did so and tried to mime at the same time.

"Seals? The Apocalypse?" Pamela asked her and Kate nodded. "Oh boy," the psychic let out before Kate started miming again. "What? Where's your voice?" Kate nodded "Oh. Well that's linked to why we shouldn't have done this spell tonight... This thing that was back at my house, it's a sort of creature that some calls a Cleaner. It shows up only on the night that ends the harvest season and it comes to clean up the in-between worlds. The in-between worlds is the world between the world of the living and the world of the dead," she explained and Kate listened carefully as it reminded her a few theories and stories she had heard in a few classes she sneaked in back in university.

"_Are we dead?"_

"Dead? No, not at all. We're just some kind of... Of souls but in the same time we're still in our bodies," Pamela replied as she put her hands on Kate's arms "This is still your body... But somehow we are like spirits, like ghosts..." She pt her hands down and with a soft voice she continued "This is why I can see. It's my soul. The physical damage that got me blind didn't touch my soul. This is why I can see again." Kate stared at her softly as she heard the wistfulness in the voice of the psychic. Kate reached her hand up to put in on the woman's forearm before squeezing it gently. Pamela gave her a little smile that Kate gave back. Pamela sighed heavily. "About your voice, it's more complicated and you're not gonna like it."

;;;;;;;;;

Dean and Sam were still on their case, towns away from Pamela's and Bobby's. Sam was sitting in the Impala when Dean sat down and almost immediately noticed Sam's expression.

"What?" Dean asked him.

"Nothing," his brother replied as he looked down at the hex bag in his hands and took a breath. Dean was only waiting for him to say what bothered him as he knew his brother well enough to know that something was making him upset. "I thought they'd be different."

"What, the angels?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam replied.

"Well, I tried to tell ya," Dean only told him.

"I just… I mean, you and Kate met Castiel and Kate told me that he was a bit strange and that he didn't want to free her when she was in the panic room because he hadn't received that order and well I don't know but I still thought they'd be righteous," Sam said shrugging.

"Well, they are righteous, I mean, that's kinda the problem," Dean told him "Of course there's nothing more dangerous than some a-hole who thinks he's on a holy mission."

"But, I mean, this is God? And Heaven? This is what I've been praying to?" Sam asked and Dean felt a bit sad to hear that.

He had fought for so long to keep his brother's innocence intact in their childhood. He could bear to know the real world out there but he couldn't let his little brother know that. He had to protect him from all of that as much as possible. When they were kids, he had to make him believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy and all the other good things for as long as possible. And he had to let him have that little faith in an upper entity that had been watching after him and that was going to repay him for all the bad things he had to go through. He _had_ to.

"Look man, I know you're into the whole God thing, you know, Jesus on a tortilla and stuff like that," he told him "But just because there's a couple of bad apples doesn't mean the whole barrel's rotten. I mean, for all we know, God hates these jerks. Don't give up on this stuff, is all I'm saying. Babe Ruth was a dick but baseball's still a beautiful game." Dean hoped that his words would cheer his little brother up but when Sam looked at him, disappointment was written all over his face. Sam started to go through the contents of the hex bag in his hand, and picked up the bone almost ignoring his older brother's speech.

"Well, are you gonna figure out a way to find this witch, or are you just gonna sit there fingering your bone?" Dean said still trying to cheer Sam up before Sam's phone started to ring. Sam sighed and put the bone back in the bag as Dean started the impala.

"Yeah?" Sam replied as he put his phone against his ear.

"Are you finished there?"

"Hum no, not really-" Sam started to reply after he had immediately recognized bobby's voice.

"You better come to Pamela as soon as you're done there," Bobby voice cut him off.

"What? Everything's okay Bobby?" Sam asked pulling Dean's attention to him.

"Not really. Pamela and Kate... They're... It's complicated. But when you're done there, call me! When you've got rid of Samhain, call me okay?"

"Okay, okay," Sam replied frowning his eyebrows "But you're sure you-" Sam stopped when he realized Bobby had hung up on him.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure... I think something's happened with Pamela and Kate," Sam replied as he put his phone back into his pocket.

"I told Bobby this girl was trouble," Dean said shaking his head and Sam sighed.

"You're being a bit hard on her, Dean," Sam said before he pulled the bone out again to look at it. "I mean, okay for sure she's not from here but she's not that bad. Besides, if she hadn't been so efficient with the researche, we wouldn't have known how to distract Samhain."

"Come on, Sammy, you're just being too nice right now. You told me you knew about that bit yourself."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have remembered about that if she hadn't written down those things that Bobby told you," Sam replied as he stared at his brother. "I really don't get it. Why do you hate her that much?"

"I don't _hate_ her," Dean replied.

"Then why are you this hard on her? I mean come on you used to be much nicer when it comes to innocent we've got to protect-"

"That's the problem. We don't really know if it's an innocent we've got to protect," Dean told him "What tells you that she ain't playing with our minds, huh?"

"And what tells you she is playing with our minds?" Sam asked him back. Dean glanced at his borther and then realized something.

"Sammy... Do you, I don't know, like her?"

"What? No. No, I don't," he replied.

"You're sure about that, Sammy?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I mean okay, yeah she's pretty and she's cool if you get to know her. But no, no I don't see her like that," Sam replied before he looked down at the bone and then glaned up at his brother who hadn't said anything after that. Usually, Dean would mock Sam or at least insist more on those kind of questions until he could get him annoyed.

"What about you? You like her?"

"What? You're serious?" Dean said turning his head to look at his brother who just tilted his head as he stared at him. "I don't like her, Sam... She's not even my type."

"Since when do you have a type?" Sam scoffed knowing far well that not only his brother didn't care if a woman had blonde, red or brown hair, or any other particuliar trait.

"Since now, alright?" Dean said almost snapping.

"Then why are you so... Tensed about her?"

"I'm not tensed... Or whatever about her. I just don't like the fact that we've got another problem to take care of while we've already got a lot to do! In case you forgot, we've got the fucking Apocalypse to stop already," Dean replied, his tone frustated as his brother stared at him trying to analyse him and his words. They stayed silent for a moment before Sam decided to change the subject and talk about the bone that was in the hex bag.

"You know how much heat it would take to char a bone like this, Dean?"

;;;;;;;;

Kate still couldn't believe it as she was sitting down on the sidewalk. Pamela had explained to her why she had lost her voice a few minutes ago and the young woman was still in shock of what was happening. According to Pamela, this Cleaner was absorbing parts of her slowly until there was nothing left. Pamela had said that the fact that she was from another dimension certainly made her a more appealing meal for the creature. Pamela had told her that no matter how far away they would go from the creature, it would still catch her before the end of the harvest time. The creature was going to absorb another ability of Kate's. Possibly her sight or hearing or something else making her more and more vulnerable until it got her completely.

Kate started asking herself how all of this could be happening to her, when Pamela stood up and looked down at her.

"We need to get back to my house," Pamela told her and Kate looked up at her surprised.

"_What?"_

"We'll have enough time to do the spell in reverse to just get back to the normal world," Pamela told her "My normal world."

"_What about the Cleaner?"_ Kate articulated pointing to the direction to Pamela's place.

"We can distract it while I prepare everything," she told her. "We've got no choice. Kate stared at her and then realized that she was going to be the one distracting the creature.

"_How?_" Kate asked as she stood up.

"You're a good runner?" Pamela asked Kate who nodded as she shrugged. "Well, I suppose you could come in the house with me and then get its attention before running out of the house. At least for ten minutes, enough time for me to take the book and start settling everything for this spell which is actually going to be a spell that will undo the previous one."

"_What if I can't come back to you in time?"_

"What?" Pamela asked her and Kate articulated more as she mimed. "You'll have to. Don't run that far away from the neighborhood. I'll just need ten minutes upmost... You think you can do that?" Kate stared at her, bit down on her lip thinking and then looked into the woman's eyes and nodded with determination.

;;;;;;;;;

"Black magic... Everyone knows how dangerous that is," Bobby mumbled as he came back into the house with his duffle full of his hunter things that he had let in his car. He waked to the pattern he had found out on the floor when he came in and had erased when he realized what it was. "And black magic on Halloween! Really Pam? Once I get your ass back here you'll hear me!" He shouted as he looked up at the ceiling. "All fucking idjits..." Bobby said as he knelt down and started drawing a bigger pattern on the floor.

All of sudden, he felt a very long shiver run down his spine. He turned around and frowned before he returned his attention on the pattern he was drawing. Then, his EMF meter in his little duffle bag on the couch started to make its particular beeping. Bobby immediately stood up and took it in his hands. He turned around as his eyes looked everywhere in the room. There was something in here but he wasn't sure that it was Pamela and Kate. Or something else.

;;;;;;;;

"Okay, ready?" Pamela asked Kate as they stood in front of the backdoor. Kate had asked her why the creature was still there and Pamela had told her that the creature certainly knew that they'd come back. As much as Kate was afraid of facing that creature, she was more afraid to have it absorb her slowly before killing her off in this in-between worlds. So she took a deep breath and nodded.

Pamela opened the door and walked in, followed closely by Kate. There was no sound in the house. Not at all. Except from a little grumbling coming from the livingg room.

"Bobby?" Pamela said as she noticed Bobby kneeling on the floor of her middle room. Kate looked at Bobby and realized that he looked very different from everything else she was staring at. He seemed a little less gloomy and almost more real. "Bobby!" Pamela shouted very loudly hoping to get the old hnter to notice her. She walked to the middle of her living room. Kate followed her and then there was beeping noise coming from a bag on the couch. She stared at Bobby as he stood up to get out a little engine and he started to look around the room. "It's his EMF meter," Pamela said her eyes glued to Bobby. "Hunters use them to find out if there's a ghost somewhere," she turned to look at Kate "I told you we're like ghosts." Kate looked at her and then glanced at the doorway leading to the staircase. She took two steps forward as she frowned. "What?" Kate pointed at the doorway.

Pamela looked and noticed there was no shadow at all. Suddenly, Kate started to see blurry. She closed her eyes and rubbed her eyelids before opening her eyes. Everything was still very blurry.

"Kate, you're okay?" Pamela walked to Kate who shook her head before she rubbed her eyelids with more force. She opened her eyes to see absolutely nothing. "Oh my God," Pamela breathed out. Kate started to breathe quickly, panic rising in her. "Calm down, Kate."

"_I can't see!_" Kate tried to scream but no sound came out of her mouth. The level of frustration she felt right now was too much. But feeling Pamela's hands softly holding her arms and hearing her voice telling her to calm down, that she was going to fix everything helped her. She stopped and took a deep breath.

"_What do... What do we do?_" She articulated hoping that the brunette in front of her would give her a reassuring answer.

"We stick to the plan," Pamela whispered to her. "The Cleaner will absorb another of your ability before killing you. But before this bastard's got the chance of doing so, you have to tempt it to distract it. And I know how hard it's going to be especially now that you can't see. But you have to."

"_How do I do that?_" Kate asked as tears fromed in her eyes before one fell down one of her cheeks. Pamela looked at her with sympathy.

"I don't know," Pamela replied "I'm sorry but I don't know."

"Alright, let's see if this works," Bobby said making Pamela turn to look at the man. "Let's get you two back here."

"Did you hear that? Bobby's trying to bring us back. He-" Pamela was saying to Kate before a violent force pulled her away from Kate. The psychic landed on a wall and lost conscious.

"_Pamela? Pamela?! What happened?_" Kate tried to shout before she stopped, hearing the hoof steps making their way towards her. She gulped and took a few steps back until she reached a counter. She knew she was standing in the kitchen. Still facing what was walking towards her, she tried to reach for something to protect herself with. But her fingers couldn't catch any object in her hands.

"Oh dear Kaitlin, I've been waiting for you." Kate was shocked to hear her own voice say that. "Yes, I've borrowed your voice. You don't mind, do you? I mean you've borrowed something that's mine too and I didn't say anything, did I?" Kate frowned. "I can hear your thoughts, you are confused by what I am telling you. Let me refresh your memory a little bit." The steps stopped and Kate knew that the creature was not two steps afar from her. "October 31st 1983."

"Oh my God," Kate heard Pamela's voice say.

"Oh I see your friend is back from unconsciousness," the Cleaner said as it turned to look at Pamela who was staring with wide eyes.

"You can't kill her. She's not even from this dimension, you don't have the right to kill her!" Pamela told the creature.

"I have every right. Ever since what she did on that last night of Harvest, years ago," the Cleaner said to Pamela before Bobby started to recite a spell outloud. "I won't let your living friend take you away from me. You are on my field now!" It turned to Kate and made two steps towards her before she kicked him as hard as she could. The Cleaner grabbed her leg and threw her to a wall.

"Damnit," Bobby said "Pamela!" Pamela looked at the old man "If you can hear me or see me or anything! I need you and Kate to repeat after me! I need you to say the spell with me! It will bring you back!" Pamela turned to look at Kate who was standing up as the Cleaner walked towards her.

"You can't even go back to your dimension. The doors are locked!" The Cleaner said to Kate as it grabbed her by the throat and held her up on the wall. As Kate's feet were no longer touching the floor, she could feel the hands of the Cleaner on her skin and was a little surprised that they felt human like hands. He strangled her forcefully and she started to choke. She put her hands on its arm and kicked its body hard with one of her feet. She did it a second time and the creature let go of her. She threw a punch and knew that she had hit its face really hard when the creature grunted.

"Kate repeat what I say!" Pamela shouted at the woman "Even if you can't say it out loud! Say them, it will work!"

Kate nodded her head, hoping that the psychic would see her do so. And then Pamela started repeating what Bobby was saying. Kate repeated too and all of sudden, her sight was back right when the creature's fist landed on her right cheek hard.

"You can't do-" The creature started to say before it coughed. Kate looked up at the creature which looked like a half-human half-demon. It had a human upper body with only big horns on the top of its head and the lower part of its body looked like the lower part of a ram with hoofs and a lot of hair. Kate threw a punch at the creature before she repeated Pamela's words and she stopped and looked at Pamela as she realized she had won her voice back. The Cleaner grabbed Kate and threw her on the little glass coffee table near Pamela's breaking the glass.

"Damn!" Bobby said as he turned his head to look at the table. Pamela realized that Kate and she were slowly getting back to the reality where Bobby was.

"Keep reading the spell Bobby! Come on!" She shouted at him and Bobby looked up. Pamela understood at this right moment that he could hear her. "The spell Bobby!"

The Cleaner walked to Kate and she took one of the broken legs of the table and hit the creature with it. Bobby looked up and his eyes got big.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Bobby had seen a lot ever since he discovered the world of the supernatural but never once did he witness something as weird as what was happening right now. He was seeing Pamela, Kate and a sort of creature on and off. They were like appearing and disappearing. And then the coffe table broke all of sudden. He saw Kate then grabbing one of the table's broke nleg and hitting the creature with it. Suddenly, he heard Pamela's voice clearly. He thought he had heard a faint sound earlier that sounded just like her voice but right now he was sure that it was her voice. And it demanded him to finish the spell. So she had heard him when he asked them to repeat after him. The old hunter didn't lose time. He put his attention back on the book as he stood up and read the spell out loud. A violent wind appeared in the room and he could hear Kate grunting as she fought against the creature. Then he heard Pamela scream as he saw a flash of her throwing herself at the back of the creature as it was fighting against Kate. Then they were not there anymore. But the wind and the noise remained. And then, he could hear very audibly, the two women repeating the last words he had said. Pamela then Kate.

A sudden calm fell on the room as the wind stopped. He couldn't hear the women anymore. He looked around. "Pamela? Kate?" There was no noise at all and it started to worry him a bit when all of sudden Kate and Pamela appeared thrown in the room. They landed on the floor side by side They were both breathing heavily. He looked at them.

"Pam? Kate? You're okay?" He asked them as he was now right next to them.

"Ouch," Pamela groaned as she sat up. Bobby reached for her but she pushed him away "She's in worse shape than I am." Pamela said in a tone that seemed a bit sad. Bobby turned to look at the young brunette whose eyes were closed.

"Hey kiddo, you hear me?" Bobby said gently at her and she nodded slowly as she opened her eyes which immediately saw Bobby's worried face. "Come on," he told her as he helped her sit up "You've been beaten up quite hard."

"Pamela?" Kate whispered as she looked at the psychic whose head was lowered. Kate reached for Pamela's arm with her bruised hand and the older woman raised her head. Kate's breath stopped when she met Pamela's white glass eyes.

"I can't see so I'm more than sure that we're back," the psychic said in a little voice.

"I'm sorry," Kate only said in reply as she stared at the woman's face.

"What happened?" Bobby asked gently. Kate turned her head to look at the old man. Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered what the creature had said.

_You can't even go back to your dimension._

_The doors are locked!_

**Author's note :**

**How could I ever thank you enough all of you my dear readers? You have been more than amazing with me! I never thought I would have so much support when I first published this story. I am truly touched by your reviews that are so well-written and help me so much in improving my English! But it also gives me better ideas on how handle the characters. So yeah, thank you very much for reviewing, favoriting and following my story! You have no idea how boosting it is to someone with as little self-confidence as myself... So yeah, thank you!  
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**And well, here you've just finished reading this fifth chapter. What did you think about it?**

**My main attempt in this chapter was to make Kate face the danger of the supernatural world and also show that she can take care of herself while still being shocked by all that's happening to her. In the same time, I wanted to create a good bond between Kate and Pamela because I really liked Pamela on the show! And of course, I wanted Bobby to fix everything because... Well because he's Bobby! :p Oh and well, I added this little scene with Dean and Sam after reading all of your reviews guys. I tried to stick to the plot line of that moment of the fourth season (episode 'It's the great pumpkin Sam Winchester') and still let it be linked to my story. So, yeah I hope it wasn't a too hard chapter to read and understand, especially seeing there was scenes happening at the same time...**

**Oh and I also wanted to give a bit of information about Kate's situation without saying too much. So yeah, basically this Cleaner was there to give us that mostly.**

**I'm sorry for my rambling but I felt like I needed to say all of this and mostly I needed to thank you (I still do).**

**So thank you for reading and please review! I love reading your reviews just as much as you love reading my story (or maybe more since your reviews are so nice!).**

**PS : sorry for the mistakes again! And you can keep on correcting me, I love it because it helps me more than you can even know :3**

**Much love,**

**A.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Sioux Falls, South of Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.**_

"Bobby!" Kate shouted as her eyes were glued to the book she was reading. She was sitting Indian style on the couch of the hunter's living room, her . The doorbell rang for a second time followed by a few knocks and Kate threw her head back as she shouted Bobby's name louder.

"What the hell?! Why are you screaming like that?!" Bobby shouted at her as he appeared in the hallway leading to the staircase, a few rooms downstairs and the front door.

"There's someone at the frontdoor," she replied in a little voice as her gaze met his, her finger pointing at the direction of the frontdoor. "...You told me not to open it on my own." Bobby rolled his eyes and groaned as he made his way to the frontdoor while Kate put her head back in the book. She heard him shout a few things at whoever was at the frontdoor but didn't focus on what was said nor who replied.

"Hey Katie," Sam's gentle voice said making her look up.

She smiled at him and he smiled back as he put down his duffle bag. She stood up and within a few seconds was right in front of him, her arms opening and Sam understood quickly what she was doing. He leaned down as he hugged her gently and she hugged him back. It was a quick hug but that made Sam understand that she was definitely a hugger. When they pulled apart Sam did a little grimace as his eyes fell immediately on her face.

"Yeah, I look terrible, you can say it," she told him as his eyes analysed the large bruise on one of her cheeks, the cut on her bottom lip and then the large band-aid on her forearm without counting the few tiny cuts here and there on her face. He also noticed the band-aid on her throat when she spoke up bringing his attention back to her eyes. "But you should have seen its face when I was done with him."

"I bet it was terrible" Sam played along.

"I like to make myself believe so," she joked with a little amused smile which made Sam laugh lightly.

"Kate, can you move your things from the coffee table?" Bobby asked as he came back in the room with a big boxe. She nodded and quickly went to put her things away.

"What is it?" She asked as she looked down at the boxe.

"Homework," Dean said making Kate turn around and look at him as he walked in with another boxe. Dean pulled his jacket off and sighed as he sat down on a chair. He looked up at Kate who was staring at him and frowned. "You-"

"Yeah, I know I look terrible," she cut him off as her eyes fell down to stare at the floor.

"I was gonna say you're wearing the same clothes than I am," he told her and she looked down at her clothes. A pair of old jeans and a black t-shirt underneath her dark green button-up that was opened, and then looked back at Dean. He was right, they were wearing the exact same kind of clothes except for the fact that she was barefoot and he was wearing boots. He stood up and walked towards the kitchen. "And yeah, you look terrible too," he said as he passed by her.

She looked up at Sam whose eyes were following his brother before he looked down at her and shrugged.

"I'm gonna unpack," he announced as he went upstairs when Bobby came back.

"Okay, I have to give Rufus a call," he said as he grabbed a notebook and a book and left the living room. She turned her head to Dean who was walking back in the living room with two beers in his hands.

"Hum I'm- I'm gonna-" Kate started, trying to find an excuse to leave the room aswell when Dean cut her off.

"Stay," he only told her before he looked up at her "I need your help with those things," she hesitated as she stared into his green eyes. His eyes were truly beautiful but it seemed like they held something else that Kate couldn't point a finger at. "Please," he told her as he held up one of the beers. Kate let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding until now, and she was sure Dean had noticed too. She walked to him, took the beer from his hand, avoiding any possible touching with their hands. She sat down on the other end of the couch, as far away from him as possible without falling off the couch. "I don't bite, you know?"

"I know," she replied without looking up at him in a little voice "It's just... Last time..."

"About last time," Dean said after sighing. He stopped and turned to face her on the couch. Her gaze was glued to the beer in her hands as his own gaze looked her up and down taking in all of her visible injuries but also taking in everything that she was showing about herself. He could say she had a strong personality and after what Bobby had told her about what happened to her and Pamela, he could say that she was braver than any other person would ever be. "I'm sorry," he blurted out as he stared at her face. She looked up and met his green eyes. "I know it was wrong... And mess up but the truth is I'm messed up, Kaitlin. I've done things that broke me... Damn, I was already very messed up but today? _Now?_ I'm just... So messed up that it..." He let out a nervous chuckle mixed with a sort of scoff as he shook his head. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this."

"You're trying to make me understand you," Kate replied in a soft whisper. He let out a little exhalation as he looked away "And it actually works." He looked back at her.

"Does it? Because if someone told me this, I'd think it was just an easy excuse."

"It could be," she told him as she nodded and got closer to him on the couch. "But even if that sounds really cheesy," she said as her face was now a few inches away from his "Your eyes; they tell me differently." She looked deeply into his eyes and saw them moving their focus down quickly at her lips. Nevertheless, her eyes never looked away from his.

"Balls!" Bobby's voice exclaimed loudly making both Kate and Dean turn their heads to the man who walked in the living room grumbling before he threw his phone on his desk. Kate turned her head to Dean and realized now how dangerously close they were sitting. She coughed and backed away a little bit before she turned her whole body to face to coffee table. Dean did the same before he spoke up.

"Something's wrong, Bobby?"

"Just Rufus," Bobby replied grumbling "Always Rufus when it's not one of you Winchesters!"

The old man walked to the coffee table, dragging a chair with him and sat down. He explained to Kate that the boxes were filled with books that he had Sam and Dean pick up from another hunter. While Sam was unpacking and taking a shower upstairs, Bobby told Kate that those books were mostly to help them with their two main problems in hands : prevent the Apocalypse and send her back to her dimension.

"But the Cleaner... He-_It_ said that the doors were locked so why even bother with my problem?" Kate asked and Bobby and Dean stared at her.

"Are you serious when you say that?" Bobby asked her as he stared at her the same way her father used to stare at her when she'd suggest a too risky idea or even something stupid.

"Kaitlin, you can't give up like that because one son of a bitch told you it was over," Dean told her and she sighed.

"I know," she replied as she put a strand of her hair that was out of her messy ponytail behind her ear "But we've got to be realistic here. Angels don't know how I came here. And this creature that is according to Pamela a very high level creature that gets rid of the still wandering-but-shouldn't-be-wandering-souls in the in-between world, tells me that I can't go back to my dimension. I...I'm just pointing out the obvious... I mean I don't want you to waste your time trying to send me back there instead of putting your full energy to a way bigger problem like the Apocalypse."

"Are you that stubbornly stupid that you'd give up the chance to get back to your normal world and escape the Apocalypse in the same time or you're just suicidal?!" Bobby asked shouting at her. She bit on her bottom lip as she looked down at her lap, trying to not talk back to the man who gave off a ressemblance of her passed away father. "The whole world can say that you're stuck, I don't fucking care! And you shouldn't either! Don't you want to see your family again? Your friends? Ain't there anything you miss from there?"

"I don't even know!" She burst out and the two men stared at her surprised. "I don't know..." She whispered. "I... My mother has been hating me for years, I didn't have friends back in Paris and the few friends I made when I came back to my hometown are not really my friends... They're just colleagues. I mean the one real friend I had was screwing with my boyfriend on my back... So no. I don't miss anything from there, except maybe the... The safety," she said her voice calm. She looked up at Bobby and saw the kindness and understanding in his eyes. "I just... I don't miss home... Honestly, I just miss the simplicity and safety of it."

"So, you'd rather stay here, in a world full of monsters and demons, and which the ending is coming soon?" Dean asked and she licked her lips as she looked down before she turned her head to look at him.

"I'd rather help you prevent this coming soon ending," she stared at him before she turned to look at Sam standing in the doorway. His hair was wet and he was wearing new clothes.

"On one condition," he told her from the doorway. "You don't stop researching on your problem completely. You keep digging on your problem as much as you do for our problem."

"Sammy-" Dean started.

"It's a deal," Kate interrupted as she looked at Sam with determination. Bobby grumbled as he shook his head and Dean stared at Kate trying to figure out if all of this was really a good idea.

;;;;;;;;;;;

_**8:28 pm.**_

"Alright, I think my brain is gonna explode if I don't stop now," Kate said as she put down the book she was reading and taking notes from.

"Same here," Dean said before he took his bottle of whisky and poured himself a whole glass as he stood up from the couch. Kate who was sitting on the floor, her back against the couch watched him walk to the kitchen.

"Maybe we could make some dinner?" Dean said leaning against the doorway as he looked directly at Kate and fixed her.

"If you think I'm gonna cook anything, you're delusional," she told him as Sam looked down at her from his seat behind Bobby's desk while the old man was downstairs in his panic room, looking for something.

"Oh come on," Dean told her "You've bought a lot of stuff, you could make us something good for dinner." She shook her head "We put you up, you could at least make some dinner for us."

"I'm quite sure Bobby is the one putting me up since it's _his_ house," she replied as she put a finger up "Besides, I'm not very good at cooking. I know just a thing or two."

"Maybe we could cook together, Katie?" Sam suggested to her as he stood up and walked to the middle of the room. She bit on her bottom lip and looked up at him. "We almost never have a good homemade meal with our lifes. So it'd be cool to have one." He was making a cute puppy dog face and Kate could never resist those kind of expressions.

"Alright," she gave up as she stood up and followed the younger Winchester in the kitchen.

Dean turned around and sat down around the kitchen table as he looked at them. He felt a very slight feeling of jealousy deep inside of him but couldn't explain why so he shrugged it off quickly. And his mind turned its attention to other things, _darker_ things... Dark memories.

Blood. Screams. Running blades. Pieces of flesh. Louder screams. Piercing cries. More blood.

"Dean?!" Sam's voice brought him back to reality. Dean looked up at his brother and the brunette standing just two steps away from him. They were staring back at him with worried expressions on their faces. "You're okay, Dean?" His little brother asked him.

"Yeah," Dean said in a broken voice before coughing as he straightened his back. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know... You were kinda off. I mean I called you a few times and you didn't react but your hands were shaking," Sam replied making Dean look down at his hands that were still slightly shaking.

"I'm okay, I'm fine," he told him fisting his hands as he looked up "I just need my refill in food."

"You're sure it's not something else?" Sam asked him sending him a knowing look.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Dean replied as he stood up "You know what? Why don't you two cook that dinner while I take a shower?" He left the room without waiting for an answer.

Kate turned her head to look at Sam as he was staring at the direction his brother left to. Sam's face was filled with sadness, concern and fear. She had always been the kind of person that could empathize very deeply with someone but those past few days made her realize that she had never empathize that much before. Sam hadn't told her a lot back at the dinner the other day but he had told her enough for her to know that their life wasn't an easy ride at all. And she could tell by Dean's actions and even reactions, that the older brother was struggling as much as his little brother; if not more. Kate knew that sometimes some people needed some time on their own and she wouldn't be surprised if Sam didn't want to do anything after the weird and concerning moment with his brother a second ago.

"If you want I can cook on my own?" She told him gently.

"No, it's fine," Sam replied as he turned to look at her "It's just..."

"What happened?" Kate asked in a whisper all of sudden. "You told me when we went shopping a few days ago, that he had come back like that... Where did he come back from that makes him act like that?"

"It's complicated," Sam replied as he walked to the fridge and opened it.

"Saying it's complicated to make me drop the subject isn't a good tactics, because I'm the kind of person who gets more motivated when it's harder," she told him as he put a few vegetables out of the fridge. "At least tell me it's personal and I'll shut up." Sam looked at her for a moment as if he was trying to figure out if he could open up about that to her.

"It's complicated because even _I_ am not sure," he decided to tell her.

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Kate asked him, her eyebrows frowned together in confusion.

"It means I'm not sure what happened to him... Uriel, the angel we met that Bobby told you about after I called him and he told us what happened to Pam and you, he... Well, he told me something about what might have happened but... I'm not sure and I hope I'm wrong. I really hope he lied to me."

"Why would you hope that an angel lied to you?" She asked him softly. Sam swallowed his saliva as he looked down at the floor before looking up at her face.

"There's a lot of things that you don't know about us, Kate," he told her in a little but sort of stern voice. "Things you don't wanna know about us," she stared at him in silence before her soft gaze turned into an almost glare. She crossed her arms on her chest and his eyebrows rose as he looked at her not understanding why she was glaring at him like that.

"If you're trying to scare the crap out of me with those kind of sentences, I'll have you know that I've had worse when I was bullied and it only made me more stubborn to stand even more taller after every fall," she told him.

Sam stared at her very impressed by her reaction and he couldn't help the little smile that grew on his lips.

"Does it still work if I tell you it's personal?" He tried to joke and she just stared at him. "I just don't want to scare you, you know?"

"I've been swallowed by a dark hole in my car and threw in the middle of another dimension where all the monsters of a child's nightmares are real. And I got to fight a creature with horns in the in-between world not twenty-four hours ago before spending my whole afternoon researching information on how preventing the Apocalypse, Sam," she said to him. "You don't want to scare me? Scared has been a part of me for days now."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

When Dean came back downstairs, Sam and Kate were almost done setting the table. And it wasn't hard for him to notice the odd silence between his brother and the brunette. He had thought they would be more talkative and maybe even laughing and joking around just like what they seemed to do a bit together ever since they met. But it was the complete opposite and it confused Dean more than just a little bit.

"Dinner's ready?" He asked making Kate look up at him and almost drop the plate that was in her hands. She put it down on the table and glanced at Sam before mumbling something along the lines of 'going to the bathroom' before leaving the room completely. Dean turned to Sam. "What's wrong with her?"

"Sam thought it was a good idea to tell her the whole Winchester tale," Bobby said sarcastically as he walked by Dean before taking a seat with a book in his hands.

"You what?" Dean exclaimed as he stared at his brother.

"I had to," Sam replied as he looked at his brother with an intense gaze. "She deserves to know after all. I mean she's staying in a house with three men and can't go back to where she comes from, she's scared not only of what's happening to her but of us too," Sam noticed Dean's expression change as if his words had touched a sensitive nerve. "We have to protect her until we can find a way to send her back home because even she says she's not eager to go back there, I'm sure she's more eager to go back there than stay here."

"And telling her everything was going to help her how?" Dean asked him.

"Well, I had already told her a bit... I just decided to tell her a bit more."

"You told her everything, didn't you?" Dean asked him. Sam licked his lips and tightened his jaw making Dean sigh as he took this as a yes. " You think she feels safer now that she knows our life story is full of monsters and death and that people around us tend to die more?"

"At least, she knows we're not lying to her... Unlike some people," Sam replied and Dean's eyes narrowed as he stared at his brother.

"Are you implying something?"

"I don't know. You tell me," Sam told him, his face hard as he stared at his brother. Bobby looked up at Sam and then at Dean.

"I've got nothing to tell you," Dean told him.

"You're sure about that? Because according to what Uriel told me, you've got a lot," Sam snapped.

"Oh really? Because I'm sure you've got a lot too and you ain't telling me nada," Dean snapped back.

"Okay enough!" Bobby said as he stood up. He looked to his left at Sam and then to his right at Dean. The brothers were glaring at each other. "I feel like I'm in the middle of a bickering couple and I ain't tolering any more of this crap under my roof!" Bobby sighed. "You really think this is how you're gonna solve what's eating both of you?" Bobby looked at the two silent men before Sam shook his head.

"I'm going out," he announced as he put down the cutlery and walked out of the room.

When Kate came downstairs she saw the frontdoor slamming. She had heard the argument between the two men and felt very guilty. She heard the sound of a car starting and then leaving, and understood that Sam was gone, for the night at least. She took a deep breath as she walked slowly back to the kitchen where Bobby was sort of trying to lecture Dean but the latter one was only blaming his little brother to have started it all. She stopped at the doorway and the two hunters stopped to look at her.

"It's not his fault, Dean," she said "I was the one who insisted on him telling me...I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have-"

"No, it was your right to know," Bobby cut her off. Dean didn't say anything as he walked away, grabbing his jacket on the way before the front door slammed for the second time this night.

The young woman felt horrible as she looked down at the table and then glanced at the counter a few feet away with the good food ready to be settled on the table. She heard the frontdoor slam for the second time and decided to run to Dean before he drove away from here too. Bobby called after her but she ignored him.

When she got out of the house, she was hit by the sudden fresh almost too cold breeze of the night as it was now past nine in the night. She saw the classic black car that Sam had told her was an Impala Chevrolet of the 1967 year. He had also told her that it was Dean's only true love, his _Baby_. She walked towards it, and looked down at her feet as she realized that she was not wearing any shoes nor socks. It was cold and dark outside, but she could still see a little bit through the darkness of the night. Hearing a noise on her left, she turned her head and walked to there quickly. She stopped when she saw Dean kicking on an old car. He turned around as he sensed her presence.

"What are you doing here, Kaitlin?" He asked her, his tone showing a bit of annoyance.

"I... I came to stop you from driving away too," she said and frowned slightly "And I realize now how stupid it is from me."

"Because you came here barefeet," he told her nodding at her foot.

"Yeah, and also the fact that you're not actually driving away and that even if you were I doubt you would have listened to me if I told you not to," she replied.

"Good point," he told her. A silence fell between them and Kate licked her lips before biting her bottom lip, something that didn't escape Dean's eyes. He couldn't explain but he felt very intrigued by her and the way she acted. He had already noted a few gestures and mimickings that she did a lot. He had never stopped analyzing her ever since she appeared in their lifes and he reasonned that as being his hunter side showing off more just in case.

"I'm sorry I insisted for Sam to tell me," she told him and he looked up to meet her eyes. He could say she was genuinely sorry.

"Why did you even want to know?" He asked her as he put his hands in his pants pockets.

"I just wanted to understand you more," she replied in a little voice "but I have this curse that turns everything I do and everything around me into a big drama scene." Dean stared at her in silence for a couple of seconds before he shook his head.

"You know, if you want to survive in this world, you shouldn't be that curious," he told her.

"Really? Because Bobby and Pamela told me that only being good at fighting was the best way to survive in this world," she told him and he let out a little chuckle before another silence fell between them.

"So I guess my brother told you everything, from when we were kids to today, huh?" He said looking away.

"Actually, he stopped to when this Yellow-eyes demon got him with other people who were also in the chosen one list of the... Well, the demon," she said in reply before she bit her lips together and crossed her arms over her chest, trying to keep herself warm.

"Why did he stop?"

"I don't know... I thought it was because Bobby was glaring at him, but I think it was because it was even harder than what he had told me before," she replied looking at him as he nodded slowly taking in her words. "I'm not going to ask you what happened, Dean. Because I know that between that night with those other kids and Yellow-eyes, and tonight, something happened that made you leave your brother... I don't know where to nor why, but I know it hurt both of you and Bobby, so I'm just gonna stop being curious. I'm not gonna ask anymore questions. I promise," she told him.

He didn't look at her nor move so Kate decided to leave him alone. She stared at him softly and turned around to walk back into the house. After only a couple of steps made barefeet, Kate was stopped by the sudden rough and almost broken voice of Dean.

The four words that reached her ears had frozen her on spot for a few seconds before she turned around slowly and looked at the man who was looking right back at her. Shock was not a strong word for what had hit her right after he had said the final word of his sentence.

"_**I was in Hell."**_

**Author's note :  
><strong>

**Happy Halloween everybody !**

**I wanted to post this chapter earlier but a lot of things happened and delayed this update... Anyway, here you go with a kind of really dramatic chapter but what can I say? I'm a drama sucker!**

**Thank you very much for the reviews, they are so encouraging and they really keep me motivated to write more! I hope this chapter update will make you as happy as your reviews make me :)**

**I would really love to read what you thought about this chapter? And how do you like the building of the relationship each character has with Kate? Do you like it so far? So please, review! It doesn't take that long to let me know what you thought of this chapter (Or at least not as long as it takes for me or any other author to write those stories...) so please leave a little review once you're finished reading.**

**Once again sorry for the many mistakes and thank you very much for reading my story!**

**Love,**

**A.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note :**

**This chapter has been really tough for me... I challenged myself in trying to write more in the past perfect tense (especially in the first part of that chapter) and I'm not sure of how it turned out so I want to apologize if this is completely confusing or else! Besides, I wanted to truly thank all of you for your support because I've almost given up a few times on writing this chapter because I felt like it wasn't good enough... I have a few later chapters already written but I've got a few like this one and the few next ones not written at all. So, reading your reviews really helped me into trying my hardest to come up with this chapter.  
><strong>

**Please enjoy this rather long chapter and don't forget to leave a review :)**

**Love,**

**A.**

**4x10 Heaven and Hell.  
><strong>

It had been a week now since that night Dean told Kate he went to Hell. A week and the woman couldn't get over it. How do you get over something like that? It was hard enough to swallow the fact that she was stuck in another dimension full of monsters, so to swallow the fact that one of the three men that were supposed to look after her, went to Hell. It was simply even harder.

It wasn't that she didn't believe Hell existed; after all she was a woman of faith deep inside. But, the fact that this man Sam had described as a righteous man he used to look up to when he was a kid, had been to Hell, it was a very hard fact to accept. And after everything Sam had told her, she could say that Dean wasn't the kind of man to deserve the fires of Hell. It wasn't that she didn't believe Hell existed, it was that she couldn't believe God would let something like that happen to a man like Dean. The brunette couldn't help but wonder if the upper entity she believed in back in her dimension was the same in this dimension. And, during that week, her mind had gone as far as to wonder if there actually was an upper entity watching over them.

Never once had she doubted her faith before. Not when her grandparents died in a car accident, not when her parents got divorced, not when she was bullied, not when she was almost abused by a drunk man, and especially not when her father died. Officialy, her name was Kaitlin Anderson but her father had always wanted to call her Kaitlin _Faith_ Anderson.

When she almost died at birth, her father had turned towards God and had prayed for hours non-stop until they told him she was alright. He had never been a religious person before and that hadn't made him one after that, but he had always told Kate that she was the only person that gave him complete faith that some miracles do come true. She was his little Faith who brought him hope whenever he needed it the most. And, she knew that this had affected her in being faithful in the existence of a God watching over them. When her father died, she almost lost this faith but for her father, she held onto it –clung onto it– in order to make him proud from above, but also in hope to meet him there someday.

Dean hadn't wanted to go into the details that night. After she had turned around to look at him, he had almost lost his voice as he had shaken his head and had told her to get back inside before she caught a cold or hurt her bare feet on the ground. She had stared at him in silence and her feet had almost walked on their own towards him. He had looked up at her as she had stopped right in front of him. Her eyes had given him a soft gaze and he had been almost relieved not to see any sort of sympathy in them. He had never wanted anyone's sympathy in his whole life and that night it wasn't different at all.

"_Does Sam know?"_

"_Yeah... But I haven't told him I remember what happened there."_

"_Bobby?"_

"_Same... No one knows."_

"_Then why are you telling me?"_

His eyebrows had frowned at that question of hers. Dean hadn't be sure why. He had just felt like he had to let it go; maybe not completely but at least a little bit. He had been tired to let his memories of Hell eating him from the inside. He had been fed up of lying to the people around him and to himself. And, truth be told, as much as Dean couldn't talk about it outloud, there was something about Kate that reassured him into talking.

"_I'm not sure..."_

His answer had been followed by a short silence that Kate had cut off.

"_I couldn't stay in the same room than you earlier, because Sam had told me about your mother, your father and all the people you lost... He told me your father had sold his soul to save you... Did-did you..."_

She had stopped not sure how to ask him if he had done the same thing than his father.

"_I sold my soul to save Sammy."_

Their eyes had been locked into each other's the whole time. And Dean had realized that an expression of understanding was forming in her eyes. He had felt even more relief to not see any kind of judgement nor sympathy in her eyes. Just _**understanding**_.

"_He was stabbed to death by one of those psychic kids. I had no choice...I had to save him."_

"_You sold your soul to save your little brother's life... And he came back to life as you died?"_

He had shaken his head 'no'.

"_One year... I had one year and then hellhounds came to get me."_

"_How did you... How did you get out?"_

"_Castiel."_

"_He got you out?"_

"_Yeah... But it was too late."_

"_What do you mean?"_

He had looked down when she had asked that question and that been clear enough for Kate. He hadn't wanted to talk anymore. It had been already too much opening up. The brown head had felt tears forming in her eyes and hadn't wanted him to see her cry. She had reached her hand slowly towards him but had stopped abruptly. Dean had looked up at her and had noticed the gesture. He had tried to look at her face but she had looked away, afraid to make him see the tears in her brown eyes. And then he had spoken up again before leaving.

"_We better get back inside before Bobby thinks something happened."_

…_._

Kate hadn't slept at all that night. She hadn't been able to. Too many thoughts had rushed in her mind that night; thoughts about what might have happened to him in Hell, what kind of tortures he had to go through, how could he still stand here after that, how he managed to stay as sane as possible around his brother and , Kate had tried to imagine the tortures but had always only succeeded to scare herself.

That night, she had cried four times too – or maybe was it five times? – she couldn't remember clearly but she knew she had cried a lot that night, wondering where God had been when those kind of things happened to a man who had spent his whole life saving and helping people.

The morning after, Sam had come back when Kate had made her way downstairs to the kitchen. Seeing the dark shadows under her eyes, Sam had told her that what had happened the previous night was not her fault at all, thinking that she had certainly not slept well because of the little argument he had had with Dean. Kate hadn't said anything about what Dean had confessed to her, and as for Dean, he had simply pretended nothing had happened at all the previous night. That same morning, Kate had realized even more that Sam and Dean were really different when it came to the emotional prospects. Sam was the kind to talk about it and to try to make everything right with words, while Dean was the kind to just keep going on and to pretend nothing ever happened.

A couple of hours later on that morning, Sam and Dean had left for another case in Concrete, Washington. Something about a ghost in some public women's bathrooms. But the next day they had called to tell Bobby it was something else; a sort of wishing well. Kate hadn't believed Sam when he had told her that they had a big suicidal teddy bear. He had told her other wishes that came true in that town, and Kate had asked if she couldn't just go there and wish to be sent back home. Sam had told her that it wasn't that easy. He had explained to her that it was black magic and that black magic always turned wrong. Bobby had told her the same, reminding her of what had happened with Pamela a few days ago which had been a very good way to back her off.

The following days, Kate had put her focus back into Bobby's books; only this time she had focused more on books about demons and crossroad demons. Bobby hadn't seemed to really notice; too busy with his own phone calls and research. But, the thing was that Bobby had noticed and had just decided to let her do so.

;;;;;

"We need to talk."

The stern voice took Kate by surprise. She was standing on a chair as she was cleaning a cupboard in Bobby's main hallway; the one that led the front door to his living room, and continued a bit more to other rooms and to the basement where his panic room was. She had been cleaning and reorganizing every corners of his house for the last three days after have spent four days healing from her injuries she had gotten on Halloween. And those four days weren't only filled with some rest and taking care of her injuries that had almost completely vanished; she had spent those days reading a lot too. In fact, she had spent almost her whole four days deep in every single demon books there was under this roof. Bobby had even seen her taking a few notes in one of the notebooks he had given her. At first Bobby hadn't minded her cleaning as he thought it would put her mind into something else than the books talking about demons and other supernatural creatures which he believed was too much now for her. Nevertheless, her little cleaning had quickly turned into a big manic cleaning from top to bottom of his house, and it was starting to drive Bobby mad.

Kate looked down at the man who was staring at her face.

"I'm almost done, can we-"

"Now," he cut her off and she bit her lips together before she stepped down. He turned and walked and she followed him, her hands clutching at a tea towel. Bobby grumbled under his breath as he tried not to stumble over the few boxes and other stuff she had put out of the cupboard she was cleaning. She was more delicate in her walking as she tip-toed the very small empty spaces of the hallway's floor.

Once they were in the no-longer messy living room – library as Bobby liked to call it sometimes – but neat living room, Bobby turned to look at the woman with a messy bun on the top of her head. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her at her face as she stopped in the middle of the room.

"Sit down," he told her motioning with his head at his couch. She obliged in silence and put her hands and the tea towel on her lap as she looked down at the denim shorts she was wearing that reached just above her knees. Her gaze then looked down at her white sockets before she looked up at the old man who was fixing her.

"What's wrong?" She asked him.

"You," he replied and she frowned lightly "Kate, you're starting to worry me."

"What?"

"Not only your cleaning is driving me crazy, it's also worrying me," he told her. "I wasn't born yesterday, I can see something's wrong with you, kiddo. So tell me."

"Everything's fine, Bobby," she replied as she started to stand up. He snapped his finger and pointed at the couch. She stared at him and slowly sat back down. At many times, he reminded her of her father but this time he was definitely the perfect copy of her father. He would do the same exact thing than Bobby when he would want to have a serious chat with her while she only wanted to avoid it.

"I've noticed you taking an interest into some books I didn't tell you to dig in," he said and she bit down on her bottom lip as she looked down. She had done something she wasn't supposed to and the fact that he reminded her so much of her father made her somewhat afraid to disappoint him. "I'm not mad at you for being curious, but after all this reading you've done, you suddenly decided to attack my house with your manic cleaning." She looked up at him with raised eyebrows. "Don't get me wrong, it's good. This place hasn't looked this clean for years! But Katie, I need to understand why you're doing all of that? And be honest with me."

"I..." She started before sighing and deciding not to lie to him. "This reading has kinda disturbed me... And honestly, I've only started to feel like this whole world isn't a dream when I finished reading. All of this world it's really... _real_. And even if I'm starting to feel safe with you, Bobby, really safe. All of this... _This_ is still too much to handle," she admitted. He stared at her before she shrugged as she continued, "So yeah I kinda needed to keep my mind busy."

"So cleaning is the best way you found to deal?" Bobby asked her.

"Well," she shrugged "I gotta say your place needed some good cleaning too," she added as she winced a bit.

"Yeah, well next time come and tell me what's wrong instead of taking it on my books," he told her and Kate couldn't help the little smile that grew on her lips as she looked at him amused. "You may have put them in order, but kiddo, I feel like I ain't in my house anymore."

"You preferred when they were put all over the place?"

"Yeah! At least, I could know easily where the book I'm looking for is," he replied.

"Bobby, I haven't thrown anything out. I just reorganized everything in alphabetical order," she told him.

"Yeah, well I'm leaving for a few days and I would have taken you with me if I didn't think you'd be safer here," he told her as she stared at him. "You"ll have the house for yourself until tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, Sam and Dean are coming tomorrow?" She said remembering what he had told her early this morning.

"Yeah," he nodded "So while you're at it, you'll put everything back in order before I come back."

"What? You want me to re-do the mess you had?" She asked taken aback by him.

"Nah," he replied shaking his head before he motioned to the doorway "But at least bring this freaking hallway's floor back."

Kate was going to reply when suddenly the doorbell rang followed by a few knocks. Bobby turned around and made his way in between the boxes and gimcracks filling on the hallway's floor as he walked towards the front door. When he arrived in front of the door, he opened it to find Sam and a short woman with dark-brown hair.

"Hey Bobby. Dean told you we were coming, right?" Sam said as Bobby tried to step aside to let him walk in.

"Yeah, but he said you'd be here by tomorrow," Bobby replied. "And this is Ruby I suppose?"

"You suppose right," Ruby replied with a sarcastic smile as she followed Sam. Bobby clenched his jaw. God, how much he hated demons.

"What happened in here?" Sam asked as he tried not to step on all the mess. Ruby made a little comment under her breath about the mess but Bobby didn't hear her.

"Kate happened," Bobby replied to Sam before he turned his head to the Impala, to see Dean and a red-haired woman walk slowly from there to his front door.

"Hey Bobby," Dean said as he looked at the old man while carrying a duffle bag like his brother, and leading the young woman gently to the door.

"You are Bobby Singer," she said as she stared at the old man with a cap on his head.

"Yeah, and you must be Anna," he told her with a polite and gentle smile. "Come on in, you don't have to worry, you're safe here."

"I know," she replied softly as she stared at him.

"Why don't you go in?" Dean told her gently as she turned to look at him and nodded before walking in and trying not to step on the stuff on the floor as well. Bobby turned his head back to Dean. "You and Kaitlin are leaving soon?"

"I'm leaving in half an hour upmost, but Katie's staying," he replied.

"What? Bobby, it's not safe to let her here when Sam and I just brought a demon and a woman that demons and angels want dead here," Dean told him.

"Yeah, well I ain't bringing her with me," Bobby replied "It'll be more dangerous for her. If you want you can go back to where you come from."

"You're serious?" Dean asked surprised that Bobby would tell him this.

"Hell I am. This girl has just started to feel safe in here, so I'm not gonna let her down, you hear me?" Bobby said in a whispering shout and Dean stared at him. He was more than surprised by the old man's commitment to protect the young woman. Then, Dean realized that the fact that the young woman had spent almost two weeks with him could have been the reason why Bobby acted this way. The old man must have developed a warm spot in his heart for that woman from another dimension.

…..

Kate stood up when she saw Sam stepping in the living room. She smiled at him as she was happy to see him. It had been a whole week since she had last seen him, and she hadn't had the chance to talk that much with him on the phone.

"Katie, what's happening in the-" Sam started before he stopped as his eyes landed on the living room; the very neat living room compared to how they left it. "Wow."

"Thank you," she said as she walked towards him. He walked towards her, his eyes gazing at the whole room in disbelief. Bobby's books were in his bookshelf and there was only three books on his desk and another one on the coffee table. The curtains and the carpet looked so clean that they looked almost new. A few maps coiled up were put in a box in one of the room's corner. Sam looked down at Kate.

"You did that?" He asked her and she nodded before he let out an impressed sigh and he leaned down to hug her. She hugged him and looked behind him to see a short dark-haired woman in a black leather jacket. "Really, Katie, that's just wow!" After the hug, Kate smiled politely at the woman in the back.

"Wow has to be the right word," the brunette in leather said as she walked to Kate, her eyes never leaving her. Kate glanced at Sam feeling awkward with the situation. "Your soul... Wow!"

"You can see my soul?" Kate asked in a little voice. "Are you an angel like Castiel?"

"Try the opposite," the short woman said smirking before she flashed her eyes black and Kate gasped as she took a step back. Quickly, Kate's mind was filled with memories of what she had read about demons and especially what she had written down on the notebooks. Her instinct made her react in only two short seconds.

"Exorcizamus te omnis immundus-" Kate started to say quickly and the woman in leather started to shake, before Sam put his hand on Kate's mouth in one swift movement.

"She's with us, Kate," he told her as he stared down at her. She glanced up at him before looking back at the woman whose eyes were back to a normal colour. Kate noticed a red-haired woman coming in the room before her eyes turned back to Sam. "It's Ruby, she's helping us, okay?" Kate nodded and Sam slowly took off his hand from her lips. He stared at her as she stared at the demon.

"If I thought giving compliments would lead to getting troubles, I would have shut up," Ruby said as she stared back and forth at Sam and Kate.

"You're friend with a demon?" Kate asked, puzzled.

"Something like that," Sam replied as he stared at her.

"Just something like that, really Sam?" Ruby said to him arching an eyebrow. Kate looked up at Sam and saw him staring at her face.

"What?"

"How the hell did you know how to exorcise?" Sam asked as Dean and Bobby came back in.

"I read it in one of Bobby's books," she replied before her attention was pulled towards Dean. One of his cheeks looked a bit bruised but he still looked as good as the first time she met him.

"You're okay?" Dean asked in a gentle voice as he put one of his hands on the red-haired woman's back. The red-haired turned her head to the hunter and nodded before she turned her attention back to Kate. Her gaze was glued to Kate as if she was hypnotized by her.

"You've learned the exorcism spell on your own?" Sam asked her and she nodded "Did you know that?" Sam turned to Bobby.

"Not really, but can't say I ain't proud," Bobby said with a smile that Sam had too. However, Kate noticed that Dean's attention was completely focused on the almost pale red-haired woman.

"Yeah, I am so peachy about it too," Ruby said sarcastically as she leaned against a wall.

"I'm gonna take Anna downstairs," Dean announced as he turned around and led the red-haired with him.

"Who is she?" Kate asked staring at the doorway from where Dean and the woman left.

"Anna Milton," Sam replied as he took his jacket off.

"Is she a friend of yours?" Kate asked as Sam walked to Bobby.

"No, she's just an innocent. We've gotta protect her," he replied and she nodded before she turned to look at the demon who was staring at her while Sam turned to Bobby. "Do you think we could increase the protections of the panic room somehow?"

"It's already pretty good," Bobby replied. Kate turned her gaze back at the two men in the room as she realized that Dean hadn't even acknowledged her presence at all, nor had he said anything about the new and clean state of the house.

"Yeah, but Cass could still get in there to see Katie the last time. Maybe he'll know Anna's here too and he'll get her," Sam told him.

"We could make hex bags?" Ruby suggested "It would prevent demons and angels to locate us."

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea," Sam said nodding his head as he turned to her. "Could you do some in the kitchen?"

"You tell me where everything's at and I'll cook you that," the demon replied.

"Katie," Bobby said "Help Ruby in the kitchen while Sam and I will get some stuff from outside." Kate's eyes got big as she stared at Bobby.

"She won't do anything to you, Katie," Sam told her as he saw her expression. She looked up at him, not very reassured by his words.

"Yes, I won't bite if you don't try to exorcise me a second time," Ruby said making Kate turn to look at the demon who smirked at her.

;;;;;;;;;

It had been almost five minutes since Bobby had left, and Kate and Ruby had just finished making the hex bags. The first ten minutes, Kate had been very mistrustful of the short woman but she had quickly realized that the demon wasn't there to do anything demon-y. Ruby had even tried to do some short conversation to pass the time while still showing her how to do those hex bags. Kate had found out that Ruby was a very powerful witch when she was human. After reading al those things about demon and crossroads demons, Kate connected the dots quickly and understood then that Ruby had sold her soul to become a powerful witch before going to Hell and coming out of many years of tortures as a demon. However, Ruby was more interested in hearing Kate's story than telling her own. So, Ruby had asked Kate why her soul was so much different from the others and Kate had told her a very short version of her story.

"And there's no way back to your sweet home?" Ruby asked her as they took all the hex bags.

"We haven't found any yet," Kate replied as she looked up at Ruby.

"Well, you made your way here, there's no reason you won't be able to make the other way around," Ruby said as she started to walk to the living room with Kate by her side.

"What about Anna? No one wants to tell me why we're protecting her that much? Is she from another dimension too?" Kate asked and Ruby stopped walking to look at her as she scoffed.

"Oh hell no, she's from here," she told her. "But she's got Heaven and Hell fighting over her. Heaven wants to kill her and Hell wants to use her."

"But why?" Kate asked and Ruby smirked a little bit.

"She knows everything about Lilith, the breaking seals and the Apocalypse," she replied before she leaned a bit towards Kate and whispered to her "She hears everything that's going on in Heaven... She hears the angels talking, conspiring... And no human can ever do that."

"You think she's not a human," Kate whispered back. Ruby shrugged before she turned around to walk to the messy hallway.

"You wanna know what I think?" Ruby told Kate as she put the hex bags in her pockets and Kate did the same. Kate followed the demon as they both tried to not stumble over the mess. "I think that you should clean this mess," Ruby groaned as she almost stumbled down.

;;;;;;;;;;;

When Kate and Ruby arrived downstairs, they both stopped at the doorway of Bobby's panic room. Kate looked at Ruby before looking down at the pattern drawn right in front of the panic room's door. Kate stood by Ruby's side as she turned her gaze to look inside the room in where she found Anna sitting in a comfortable chair, in silence.

"You shouldn't be here," Dean's voice said making Kate look at him. He was looking at her with an almost glare. She rose her eyebrows. He hadn't even said hello to her since he arrived here and the very first he tells her is this accompanied by a cold gaze.

"What?" She asked him.

"It's not safe here," he told her, still looking at her with that too hard look.

"I thought it was the safest place," Kate replied almost sternly before she nodded at the quiet red-haired woman in the back "Where are the ropes?"

"What?" Dean asked her frowning his eyebrows as he glanced at Anna before looking back at the brunette.

"You had tied me up in here when you weren't sure of what I was," Kate told him as he stared at her and Ruby turned to look at her too, surprised.

"I didn't know you had it kinky," Ruby said to Dean with a smirk.

"Shut up," Dean told Ruby before he turned his attention back to Kate.

"You're not sure of what she is... So why aren't you tying her up?" Kate asked him and he let out a long sigh.

"It's not the same."

"In which way?" She asked him.

"In many ways," he snapped back making Anna look up at them. Dean sighed as Kate bit down on her bottom lip. "Anyway," he said as he turned his attention back to Anna. He hit the walls as he talked to her "Iron walls drenched in salt. Demons can't even touch the joint."

"Which I find racist, by the way," Ruby said.

"Write to your congressman," Dean told her. Ruby took out the hex bags in her pocket and Kate started to put her hands in her pockets when Ruby shook her head at her.

"Here," Ruby said to Dean who looked at her as she threw two hex bags at him and he caught them easily.

"Hex bags?"  
>"Extra-crunchy. They'll hide us from angels, demons, all comers," Ruby replied.<p>

"Thanks, Ruby," Dean said before he turned to Anna and spoke gently to her "Don't lose this," he handed her the hex bag and Kate couldn't help but notice the gentleness in his gestures that she hadn't had the chance to have when she first came here. She couldn't help but rub the scar on her throat as she remembered the other kind of gestures he had done to her. "So, Anna, what's playing on angel radio? Anything useful?"  
>"It's quiet. Dead silence," Anna replied as she looked at him.<p>

"Good. That's not troubling at all," he said sarcastically.

"We're in trouble, huh? You guys are scared?" She asked as she looked at him. He turned his head to look at Ruby and Kate on the other side of the door before he turned his head back at Anna.

"Nah," Dean replied.

"Hey, Dean!" Sam called out from upstairs making Kate and Ruby turn their head to that direction.  
>"Just stay here, okay?" He told Anna gently as he touched her knee before he walked to the open door and Ruby moved a little bit aside as Kate stayed unmoving, her eyes avoiding him. "Keep an eye on her," Dean said to Ruby before he glanced at Kate and sighed as he walked away.<p>

Kate glanced at Ruby whose eyes were glued to Anna; she was really keeping an eye on her. Kate sighed wondering if she should stay with them or just go back upstairs.

"You have a very beautiful soul Kate," Anna told Kate out of the blue. Kate frowned her eyebrows before she leaned to Ruby by her side.

"She can see my soul too?" Kate muttered.

"Obviously," Ruby replied, her arms crossed as she never looked away from Anna.

"Is there anyone who can't see my soul?" Kate said more to herself than for anyone but Ruby glanced at her with a smirk.

"I feel like you don't like me very much," Anna said to Kate who frowned. "Is that because Dean trusted me quickly and he still doesn't trust you?"

"No, it's- wait what? What makes you say he still doesn't trust me?" Kate asked as she took a step inside the panic room.

"I've-" Anna started before she stopped herself and frowned as if she was listening to something.

"What's wrong? The angel radio is back on?" Ruby asked.

"No, but Sam and Dean..." Anna said as she stood up. Kate stared at her as she walked to the door.

"I don't think you're supposed to leave this room," Ruby told her but the red head ignored her as she walked out. Ruby sighed as she glanced at Kate who didn't react. Ruby followed Anna as Kate stayed there thinking. _He still doesn't trust you._

_;;;;;;;;;;;_

"How?" Anna asked right when Kate came in the doorway.

She had decided to go upstairs after have realized that it was absolutely no use in trying to understand why Dean was still this distrustful about her. Pamela had told Bobby that they could all trust her completely, the angels had said that she was to be protected and she had passed his stupid tests the very first night she landed in this world. Sure, he had told her that he had been to Hell and that had messed him up. But why would he be this trustful to a girl that Ruby had told her knew everything about the Apocalypse and the seals that Lilith was breaking, and not to her?

"We've got a friend that has some abilities. She'll be very helpful, don't worry," Dean told her gently before he looked at Sam "I'm gonna give Pamela a call and see if she can come check her out," he told his brother before he stood up and walked to the messy hallway "And please could you just clean this mess?" Dean said to Kate as he gave her a hard look. She stared at him a bit taken aback but bit down on her tongue and looked away as he walked away.

"Let me help you," the red head said as she walked by Kate and bent down to take a few things.

"No, Anna. You better get back downstairs, you'll be safer there," Sam told her as he stood up and the almost pale woman looked at Kate before obliging. Sam walked to Kate as Anna left. He bent down to help Kate gather the few things while Ruby sighed following the Anna to the basement.

"I can do it, Sam," Kate replied almost bitterly.

"And I can help," he told her as he took a few things that Kate grabbed from him and put in one of the few empty boxes. "I'm sorry about Dean... He's having a hard time lately."

"When isn't he?" Kate asked sarcastically as she gathered a few little boxes and put them all in one bigger box.

"It's really just this whole case-" Sam started to tell her, trying to find an excuse for his brother's behaviour but Kate cut him off.

"Is it? Because I really feel like there's something else. I feel like the only real problem for him is me," she told him with a bitter tone as she looked up at the tall man. He looked at her with a puppy dog expression grazing his whole face which made Kate sigh. She couldn't be this nasty towards him, while he was always so kind to her. "I'm sorry Sam. I didn't want to act like a bitch towards you... It's just-" Kate said before Dean came back and interrupted her.

"Pamela's okay. I'm gonna pick her up right now."

"Alright," Sam replied as Dean glanced at Kate who ignored him completely as she grabbed a big box she had finished filling with other things and walked to the cupboard.

Dean tilted his head as he had suddenly noticed what she was wearing. A simple grey t-shirt and a pair of shorts that wasn't too short but short enough to show off her creamy white legs. His eyes looked up and down at her as she climbed on the chair with the big box in her arms, and they lingered on her long legs before Sam coughed almost obnoxiously. Dean turned his head at his brother who was giving him a sort of bitch face.

"Pamela?" Sam told him and he nodded.

"Yeah. Pamela. I've gotta go and pick her up. I'll be back in a few," he said as he glanced at Kate one last time before walking away.

;;;;;;;

"Pamela!" Kate exclaimed as she made her way towards the blind woman who was walking in the hallway leading to the basement's door.

"Is that the voice of my favourite impossible girl?" Pamela said with a smile as Kate came in front of her. Pamela reached out with her hands while Dean was closing the door behind him. Kate gave her hands out for the woman before they hugged. "How are you doing, honey?"

"Better than when I was thrown to your walls by that creature," Kate replied jokingly which made Pamela smirk before they pulled apart.

"So you're finished with your big household?" Pamela asked her.

"Almost. But I think Bobby isn't too fond of it," Kate replied in an amused tone as Dean put some things in the living room.

"He never liked the fresh smell of a neat house," the psychic replied when Dean arrived by her side.

"Maybe we could go see that innocent girl now?" Dean told Pamela who nodded. Dean put his hands on her, but she made a clicking sound with her tongue as she shook her head.

"I want my girl here to lead me, if you don't mind Dean? Maybe you could go first and we'll be there right behind you," Pamela said and Dean glanced at Kate and put his hands away as he circled the two women and walked downstairs.

"Alright, let's go," Kate said as she crossed one of her arms with one of the psychic's.

"What's wrong with you, honey? I can feel you've got a lot in your mind."

"Oh you know, that's just the usual too anxious thinking of any 24 year old woman who's been thrown into a world of pure madness," Kate replied trying to sound as nonchalant as possible as she led the woman to the basement's door and they stepped in there.

"I feel more than this," Pamela whispered.

"What about we talk about it later?" Kate suggested in a whisper too.

"As you wish honey, but don't you think I'll just forget," Pamela told her as she stopped in the stairs and faced her. Kate's lips curled into a little smile.

"Yeah," she told her before the psychic started to walk down so Kate helped her. "We're here!" Kate called out and she saw Dean walk to the end of the staircase downstairs waiting for them.

"Pamela, hey!" Sam said when the two women reached the end of the stairs and Kate let Pamela steps towards Sam who had walked towards her.

"Sam?"

"Yeah."

"Sam? Is that you?" The psychic asked and Kate knew that she was fooling with Sam. She licked her lips and bit her bottom lip as she smiled.

"I'm right here," he told her as Dean was staring at Sam and the psychic.

"Oh. Know how I can tell?" Pamela said before she grabbed Sam's ass all of sudden making Kate bit her lips together to not laugh. "That perky little ass of yours. You could bounce a nickel off that thing," Pamela laughed and Kate couldn't help herself as she laughed out loud too. Dean turned his head at Kate surprised to hear her laugh this loud and this fully. She was holding on her tummy as she laughed and tried to stop herself. A little smile appeared on his lips as he stared at her. She had one of those laughs that could make you smile or even laugh along. "At least I made someone laugh here," Pamela said as she smiled at Sam. "Of course I know it's you, grumpy. Same way I know that's a demon, and that poor girl's Anna and that you've been eyeing my rack."

Kate laughed even more and Dean couldn't help but think that she was really beautiful when she laughed. Suddenly, the brunette threw her head back and Dean's face fell as he felt a strong and hard pinch in his heart at the view. His eyes had fallen on the scar that was on her throat; the one he did to her.

"Uh... uh... uh," Sam replied to Pamela, feeling embarrassed as he threw a glance at Kate.

"Don't sweat it, kiddo. I still got more senses than most. And Kate you sound like you really needed a good laugh," Pamela said turning to Kate.

"I sure did," Kate said before she saw Sam's gaze tuning in a little glare at her. "I'm gonna stop… It's stopping, see?" Kate said as she managed to calm herself down. Sam shook his head as Pamela made her way to Anna who was standing a few steps away from Ruby, right in front of the panic room.

"Hey, Anna. How are you? I'm Pamela," Pamela said as she reached her hands out to the red head.

"Hi," Anna said with a smile while Sam noticed his brother staring at a wall as if he was a bit off. He tapped him on the back, bringing him back to the now moment. Dean turned his attention to the psychic as she talked to Anna.

"Dean told me what's been going on. I'm excited to help," Pamela told her.

"Oh. That's nice of you," Anna replied still smiling politely at the woman with sunglasses.

"Oh, well, not really. Any chance I can dick over an angel, I'm taking it."

"Why?" Anna asked as Kate glanced at Ruby who was staring at Pamela with her arms crossed over her chest, but her eyes would glance at Sam now and then which made Kate glance at the younger Winchester. She wondered what really was the relationship between the two hunters and the demon.

"They stole something from me," the psychic replied making Kate look back at her as she remembered everything she was told ever since she came in this world. She knew it was by trying to see Castiel's true form that the woman had had her eyes burned off. Pamela took off her sunglasses, revealing her white eyes as the red-haired woman looked at her with surprise but also a bit of fear. Pamela gave a little amused smirk "Demon-y, I know. But they're just plastic. Good for business. Makes me look extra-psychic according to Kate. Don't you think the same?" She laughed making Anna smile. "Now...how about you tell me what your deal is? Hmm? Don't you worry, if you can get concentrated more than Kate it will be very easy," Pamela said as she put her arm on Anna's back and they both walked to the panic room.

"Hey!" Kate protested next to the staircase.

"I'm just pointing out a fact here, honey," Pamela said as she stepped in the panic room smiling at the red head.

;;;;;

"I don't want to."

"It'll be okay. Anna, just one look, that's all we need," Pamela gently said to Anna as Kate made her way back downstairs after have taken a quick shower and changed into a slim pair of jeans and a red t-shirt underneath a black sweater. However she was completely barefeet this time; it was an old habit of her to not wear any shoes when staying in a house, and she couldn't let it go. As she arrived next to Ruby at the open door, she noticed how it was pretty intense in the panic room. Sam was next to the open door and Dean was sitting on the desk, both of them were staring at Anna. Kate glanced at Ruby before she stepped into the panic room and stood next to Sam.

"No,"Anna replied to Pamela who simply insisted. Dean was staring at Anna and Kate couldn't help but look at him. There was no denying he was a very good-looking man, but he was also very annoying with his changing moods towards her. And it was a bit hard to believe that he didn't trust her at all, especially since the last time he was at Bobby's, he had been so kind and apologizing towards her. And most of all, he had told her something he hadn't told anyone. He had told her he remembered Hell.

"What's your dad's name? Your real dad. Why is he angry at you?" Pamela insisted.

"No. No! No?" Anna screamed pulling Kate out of her thoughts as she turned her attention back to the red head. "No!"

"Calm down," the psychic told her gently but Anna just kept screaming which worried Kate.

"He's gonna kill me!"

"Anna, you're safe," Pamela tried to reassure her when suddenly the door shut closed.

"No!" Anna kept on screaming. And suddenly all of the lights started to explode and the glass to shatter. Sam immediately put his arms around Kate and tried to block all the shattering from reaching her as she brought her hands up to her chest, while trying to keep her eyes open to look at what was happening.

"Calm down," Pamela kept trying to calm the woman down.

"Maybe you should stop," Kate shouted making Pamela raise her hand in a stop signal.

"He's gonna kill me!"

"It's all right, Anna," Pamela tried to calm Anna down.

"Anna?" Dean said as he walked to her and reached for her shoulder..

"Dean, don't," the psychic warned him. And suddenly, Anna threw Dean across the room. Kate immediately ran out of Sam's arms towards Dean who had broken a chair when he landed on his back.

"Wake in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5," Pamela said quickly as Kate bent down by Dean's side.

"Dean, you're okay?" She asked him as she cupped his chin with her hand and made him face her as she scanned him. He looked up at her and their eyes met. He saw the genuine concern in her eyes as he slowly nodded at her.

"Anna... Anna? You all right?" Pamela asked as Kate helped Dean up. She winced a little and glanced down at her barefeet and the shattered glass all over the floor.

"Thank you, Pamela," Anna said as Dean stared at Anna as he noticed a change in her voice. There was more confidence in it than before. "That helped a lot. I remember now."

"Remember what?" Sam asked as he never looked away from Anna.

"Who I am," she only replied as she turned her head towards him and looked him in the eyes.

"I'll bite. Who are you?" Dean asked as everyone in the room stared at her.

"I'm an angel," Anna replied before she glanced at Kate and then at her feet. "I am sorry, Kate. I didn't mean to."

"What?" Sam asked as he and Dean turned to look at Kate before they noticed her bare feet.

"Damn!" Dean exclaimed as his arms immediately and naturally wrapped around Kate. One arm under her legs and the other supporting her back like a groom carrying his bride. Kate was surprised but all she could do was wince almost too quietly as she looked at her feet and saw a lot of blood dropping. "Why are you always barefeet, Kaitlin?" Dean asked her, his tone almost annoyed. She glanced at him and saw that his eyes didn't hold any kind of anger or annoyance. All she could see was real concern.

"We should all go upstairs while Dean takes care of Kate," Pamela suggested while Kate decided to put one of her arm on his back to hold onto him.

"Yeah," Sam said before turning to his brother, his arms opened ready to carry Kate upstairs "Do you want me to-"

"I've got her," Dean cut him off as he walked to the door and Sam nodded as he went to open the door. Kate was biting on her bottom lip and staring at her legs, trying to keep herself calm.

"What the hell happened?!" Ruby exclaimed as the door opened. She winced when her eyes fell to Kate's feet before Dean passed by her to get to the staircase. Ruby looked at them before turning to Sam questioning him with her eyes.

Dean kept walking with Kate in his arms and glanced down at her face as he noticed she was quiet ever since she helped him up after he was thrown away. He frowned his eyebrows as he walked upstairs.

"You're very quiet," Dean told her "I would have thought you would have cried in pain or something." She looked up to his face and noticed that his face was very close to hers. She looked at the many freckles all over his face, the few little faded scars here and there, the shape of his lips, of his nose and then she looked at his eyes. He had quiet long eyelashes for a man, but what always struck her the most was the beautiful green of his almond eyes. She had never seen anyone with eyes holding this kind of green. She stared and slowly she stopped biting on her lip as she almost forgot the aching pain on the below part of her feet. Dean glanced down at her and noticed her staring at him. "What?"

"Ouch," she said in a little voice.

"Ouch?"

"Just ouch," she whispered and he looked at her as she avoided his gaze. Dean couldn't help but glance at the scar on her throat. He felt his heart beating faster and harder, he gulped and looked away as he finished walking up those stairs before too much guilt would rise in him, accompanied by memories of Hell.


	8. Chapter 8

;"Here," Dean said in a gentle voice as he put Kate down on the couch. One of his arms kept holding her feet up, while he reached the other out towards her, "give me a pillow." Kate handed him the nearest pillow and he put it on the coffee table before resting her legs slowly on it. He glanced up at her, "I'll be right back."

He left her in the living room as he walked to one of the two bathrooms there was at Bobby's. He opened the door and walked to the cupboard in the shining white bathroom. He grabbed the first aid-kit and a towel hung next to the shower, and looked around himself. This bathroom used to be a bit gleam and much more untidy. He had noticed the great cleaning that had been done in the house even though he hadn't commented on it. His mind had been too busy with doing his hunter job that he hadn't thought of complimenting Kate on her good job. It must have taken a lot of time to clean and reorganize everything in the house. He hadn't gone upstairs yet, but he was damn sure it was as neat as the first floor. He couldn't help but wonder where she had found the strength to do all of this while she was fairly injured. It was true that today she looked healed from her injuries, but still her cheek had a faint trace of the previous bruise and the cut on her lip had left a still noticeable scar… _Just like the one on her throat_. The one he had done to her like a real idiot.

Dean rubbed a hand down his face as he sighed before turning around. When he turned around, the hunter's gaze fell to the mirror just above the sink. He stared at the reflection of himself. He made two steps towards it as his gaze never looked away. There was a time he could look in a mirror without any real care of what he'd see. There was a time it was only to spike his hair up a little bit with some gel, to check out if he had anything on his teeth before going to a bar for a hook up, or even to make some funny faces while brushing his teeth next to his little brother trying to make him laugh. However, today, when he looked in the mirror, all he could see was the same kind of monsters he's been hunting his whole life. And he _**hated**_that.

"Hey Dean!" Sam called out pulling him out of his thoughts. "You've got the first aid-kit?" Sam asked as Dean heard his footsteps coming towards the bathroom. Dean took a deep breath and walked to the door, almost bumping into his little brother. He rose the first aid-kit in his hand showing to his brother that he had the first aid-kit.

"Let's go," Dean told him as he walked down the hallway followed by Sam.

"It's not that bad," Dean heard Ruby say to Kate "There's a lot of blood, but I don't think it touched any nerves. It's mainly superficial." Dean and Sam walked in the living room and Ruby turned to Sam.

"So anyone's going to tell me what happened downstairs?" She asked him while Dean walked to the coffee table and sat on it. He put the towel on his lap and took Kate's feet to rest them on his lap.

"Oh yes, Sam, tell your dear demon friend here what happened downstairs, and let's see how she takes it," Pamela who was sitting next to Kate, sarcastically said. Dean grabbed one of Kate's feet in his hands and tried to examine it.

"Open my duffle bag," Dean said glancing up at Kate who reached for his duffle bag that was on her right. She opened it when he continued "There's a bottle of strong whiskey in there, give it to me."

"Why?" She asked looking at him with a confused frown.

"I need to clean your wounds first. There's too much blood to see if you actually need some stitches," he told her as he looked at her, his face holding almost no emotion at all.

"With whiskey?" She asked him when Anna suddenly spoke up.

"What happened downstairs is that Pamela made me remember what I really am."

"And?" Ruby asked not patient at all.

"Just give me the whiskey, Kaitlin," Dean said holding one of his hands out.

"Uh uh," she said shaking her head. "There's actual antiseptic in that box," she said pointing to the first aid-kit. He frowned and looked at the first aid-kit box before opening it, and finding as a matter of fact an antiseptic bottle. "I made Bobby buy one after Pamela and I got attacked last week."

"Huh," Dean let out as Anna's eyes were glued to Kate for a moment before turning her attention back to Ruby.

"And, well, I am an angel," Anna told Ruby whose eyebrows rose before she took a few steps back. "Don't be afraid, I'm not like the others," Anna said trying to reassure not only Ruby but everyone else in the room.

"I don't find that very reassuring," Ruby said while still trying to back away from the red head as she was standing at the kitchen doorway.

"Neither do I," Pamela added.

"Oh fuck!" Kate exclaimed as Dean started to apply the antiseptic all over her feet.

"Language," Pamela said as she turned her head towards Kate who was biting her lips together very hard. She always had a good pain tolerance, but the antiseptic phase always made her flinch or wince more than anything else. Dean finished pouring the antiseptic and kept on washing her feet with a gentleness that Kate couldn't remember receiving from him. He noticed how very soft her skin was against his calloused fingers, and she noticed that too. Kate glanced at his face to see him wear an expression of deep concentration.

"I'm sorry but I'm kinda lost here," Kate said looking up at Anna, as Dean's hands were calming the aching in her feet down. "The angels are trying to kill you but you're an angel too. I'm sorry but I don't get it... Aren't angels supposed to be the good guys?"

"You must be a woman of faith to think so," the red head told her.

"Yes, I am. So?" Kate said in a bitter tone, feeling judged by the fallen angel. Both Sam and Dean looked at Kate. They had no idea she was a woman of faith as Anna had put it.

"I suggest that I tell you what happened earlier with the angels, later," Ruby told Kate who turned her brown eyes to meet the demon's dark brown ones.

"Ouch!" Kate said as she turned her attention back to Dean as he was pulling a few shattering glass out of her feet. He glanced up at her.

"We're almost done. You won't need any stitches," he told her.

"Lucky me," she said with a bit of sarcasm as she looked up at Sam who gave her a soft smile.

"So...Castiel, Uriel - they're the ones that came for me?" Anna said looking back and forth at the brothers.

"You know them?" Sam asked her.

"We were kind of in the same foxhole," Anna said in reply.

"So, what, were they like your bosses or something? Dean asked in a smirking tone as he never looked away from Kate's feet.

"Try the other way around," Anna said making Dean turn his head to her. She earned a very impressed expression of the two brothers.

"Look at you," Dean said with a little smirk.

"Honestly, I'm still as confused as Kate here," Pamela said pulling Dean's attention back to Kate's feet. He started to put a band-aid on each cuts of one of her feet. "You were their boss and now they want to kill you?"

"Orders are orders. I'm sure I have a death sentence on my head," Anna replied to the psychic.

"Why?" Pamela asked.

"I disobeyed... which, for us, is about the worst thing you can do," Anna replied. "I fell."

"Meaning?" Dean asked as he glanced at her.

"She fell to earth," Pamela started.

"And became human," Kate finished as she never looked away from Anna. Back in her dimension, Kate had taken an interest in some theological classes and had sneaked in some of those classes. One of the lessons was about angels, and the professor had one said that by falling an angel could become a human. He had added jokingly that our entourage, or even ourselves, might be angels without knowing it.

"Wait a minute. I don't understand," Sam said pulling Kate out of her thoughts. "So, angels can just become human?"

"It kind of hurts," Anna replied to Sam while Dean finished putting band aids on one feet and still had the other to wrap with band aid. "Try cutting your kidney out with a butter knife. That kind of hurt. I ripped out my grace."

"Come again?" Dean asked as he turned his head to the red head.

"My grace. It's... energy. Hacked it out and fell. My mother, Amy, couldn't get pregnant. Always called me her little miracle. She had no idea how right she was," Anna explained as Kate's brown eyes stared at her remembering that her mother had troubles getting pregnant too. She frowned as the thought of her mother crossed her mind. She couldn't help but wonder if her mother succeeded to have any other child in this dimension? And did she got divorced from her father? Was she happy here? Suddenly, _it_ hit her. Her father might still be alive in this dimension. He might still be alive.

"So, you just forgot that you were God's little Power Ranger?" Dean asked Anna as Pamela turned her head to Kate before reaching for her hand and squeezing it gently. Kate turned her head at the woman sitting by her side. Pamela gave a little nod of the head to Kate who gave her an almost weak smile. Dean glanced at them as he noticed the exchange.

"The older I got, the longer I was human, yeah," Anna replied as Dean looked down at Kate's foot.

"I don't think you all appreciate how completely screwed we are," Ruby said pulling everyone's attention to her except Dean's, as he was finishing with her foot. Kate took a deep breath and told herself she'd have to wait to have the answers to her questions about her family in this dimension.

"Ruby's right. Heaven wants me dead," Anna nodded.

"And Hell just wants her," Kate said in a little voice as Ruby nodded at her. Suddenly, Kate felt Dean's fingers rub up and down the below parts of her feet.

"Tell me when you feel like there's still a piece of glass in there," Dean told her as he put some more pressure on there and she bit her bottom lip very hard. "Here?" He asked her as he stopped moving his fingers, she shook her head so he kept going. She took a sharp breath in and he stopped. "Here?" She shook her head and he frowned "You're sure?" She nodded frantically as Pamela let out a light chuckle. Dean had touched very sensitive spots of her feet and Pamela understood it quickly.

"I think she's fine, Dean," the psychic said to the hunter who looked up at her before looking at Kate.

"Sure?" He said to Kate who nodded frantically. Dean nodded as he put her legs back down on the pillow and gathered the things on his lap to put them away on the coffee table as he stood up.

"You guys don't get it," Ruby said "Anna is a flesh-and-blood angel that you can question, torture, that bleeds," Ruby said before looking right at the fallen angel. "Sister, you're the Stanley Cup. And sooner or later, Heaven or Hell, they're gonna find you."

"I know. And that's why I'm gonna get it back," she said with a strong determination in her voice.

"What?" Sam asked.

"My grace."

"You can do that?" Dean asked taken aback.

"If I can find it," she nodded.

"So, what, you're just gonna take some divine bong hit, and, shazam, you're Roma Downey?" Dean joked making Ruby roll her eyes and Kate let out a light chuckle.

"Something like that," Anna replied her arms crossed over her chest.

"All right. I like this plan. So, where's this grace of yours?" Dean asked her.

"Lost track. I was falling about 10,000 miles per hour at the time," Anna said.

"Wait, you mean falling, like, literally?" Kate asked surprised.

"Yes."

"Like the way a human eye can see? Like a comet, maybe, or a meteor?" Sam asked.

"Why do you ask?" Anna asked.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Kate hung up on Bobby after she had reassured him that everything was doing fine at his house. She hadn't told him about the shattering glass or about the fact that the innocent red head was actually a fallen angel. She hadn't wanted to worry him while he was on an important hunt that would lead him to something he told her was very important. The brunette walked down the hallway after she had put on her converse shoes with great care and realized that she could walk normally. She could still feel a faint aching, but it was nothing too bad compared to what she's had last week. As a matter of fact, it was more irritating than aching. She slowed her steps when she heard Sam and Ruby talking in the living room.

"Forget the angels. It's Alastair I'm scared of," the demon said making Kate frown her eyebrows as she tried to listen without getting caught.

"Alastair?" Sam asked.

"You met him in the church. Practically the grand inquisitor downstairs. Picasso with a razor," Ruby told him.

"And?"

"And you should pull him out and throw him back in the pit," Ruby said to him "... if you weren't so out of shape."

"Ruby..."

"No, your abilities - you're getting flabby," Ruby told Sam making Kate completely puzzled. Sam had told her about his sort of psychic power, but he had also told her that in a past tense making her understand it was over.

"Yeah, so how do I tone up?"

"You know how. You know what you got to do."

"No, I'm not doing that anymore," Sam replied. Kate frowned at that wondering what exactly he had to do and that he didn't want to do anymore.

"Sam..."

"I said no," Sam said almost too sharply stopping Ruby from insisting even more.

"Well, then you better pray that Anna gets her groove back, or we're all dead," Ruby told him before Kate heard a few step sounds. She took a few steps back and acted as if she was just coming towards the living room.

"Hey!" She said as Ruby came right front of her, a few feet away from the doorway leading to the living room.

"Hey," Ruby said back as Kate gave her a nervous smile before walking to the living room.

"You shouldn't eavesdrop a demon, they kind of can sense your presence, especially with a soul like yours," Ruby told her making her stop. Kate turned around to look at Ruby.

"I didn't want to," she told her.

"But you couldn't help yourself," Ruby told her nodding her head "I know the feeling." She smirked at Kate.

"So, do you wanna know what happened before we got this fallen angel in this charming place?"

"Yeah... But I also want to know a few other things," Kate told her in a whisper.

"With an impossible soul like yours, your wish is my command," Ruby smirked.

;;;;;;;;;;

Outside, in Bobby' salvage yard, Dean was leaning against a car. He had just come back from driving Pamela home. The psychic had asked him to be the only one driving her home so she could talk with him. The hunter had expected to have a casual little conversation but it was the complete opposite. Not three minutes on the road and she had slapped his arm and called him a stupid heartless boy who acted as an asshole. She had then told him that the way he was acting towards Kate was purely unfair and childish. He had pretended not to know what she was talking about, earning himself another good slap on the arm followed by her warning him that she was a powerful psychic and he'd rather not lie to her. After a short moment of silence, Pamela had asked him in a more gentle way why he was acting this hard to Kate, and he had shrugged. She had told him softly that Kate was a good girl and that her story was true; that he could stop doubting. But he had admitted to her that a part of him was preventing him from doing so.

_I'm a hunter, Pamela. I can't just trust her that easily... I want to, I really do... But I can't. She's something supernatural... I hunt supernatural things. I'm not saying I'm gonna hunt her... It's just that I can't give her my entire trust when I'm not sure of what she is._

Pamela had shaken her head saying that he was only trying to find some excuses, and that if he was true to his words, he wouldn't have given that complete trust to Anna either. Dean hadn't said anything at that, knowing very well how right Pamela Barnes was. And then, she had told him that she could feel the real reason of why he wasn't nice to Kate. He had glanced at her as she had abruptly stopped talking after that. Her face had looked thoughtful but also a bit sad. When they had parked in front of her house, he had decided to walk her inside. Once it was done, she had turned to him and told him what she could feel emitting from him.

_"You're scared to let her in, Dean. You've tried letting her in but it scared you..."_

_"Pamela, I ain't scared-"_

_He had started to protest her true words only to be cut off by the psychic._

_"You are, because you feel like you don't deserve this. You think you don't deserve to have anyone taking the pain away from you, and that's exactly what she's done to you when you confessed to her."_

_"I gotta go back,"_ Dean had said as he had walked towards the door. He hadn't wanted to talk about it.

_"It's not fair for her,"_ she had exclaimed stopping him at the front door. _"She's a good girl, Dean. You know you can trust her; as a matter of fact, you __**do**__ trust her. You're just lying so hard to yourself in order to push her as far away as possible from you and your pain, that you've made yourself believe that trust is the real issue between you two,"_ Pamela told him and Dean glanced at her in silence. _"It's not fair for both of you."_

_"I know,"_ he had whispered before leaving.

On the way back to Bobby's, Dean hadn't stopped thinking over and over again about what Pamela had told him. It had been hard to hear the truth said out loud to him, but in the same time it was making him realize that his actions towards the young brunette were really too hard. But, the truth was that he couldn't stop feeling like he didn't deserve anyone to help him, to listen to him or to even take his pain away. After what he had done in Hell, there was no way that he deserved any of that. And there was absolutely no way at all that he deserved a _good girl _like Kaitlin heal him from Hell.

"Pamela get home okay?" Anna's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He turned to look at the fallen angel as she gave him a soft smile.

"Yeah," he replied before coughing a little bit and pushed his previous thoughts in the back of his mind. "She said she was sorry. It's just after last time, she, uh... This is just a little too rich for her blood."

"I don't blame her. You guys should do the same," she replied.

"Well, we're not that smart," he told her as he looked at her. "Can I ask you something? What do they want me for? Why did they save me?" He needed to know why they would save him from Hell after all that he had done there, but he also needed to know why they had waited so long to save him.

"I'm sorry. The angels aren't talking about it. They're actually more talking about Kate lately... Wondering why she's here... But, about why you were saved, they are not really talking. And it was after I fell."

"That's another question. Why would you fall? Why would you want to be one of us?" Dean asked her as she glanced behind him, noticing Kate and Ruby walking in between the cars as they talked a bit afar from them.

"You don't mean that," she replied as she looked at him.

"I don't? A bunch of - of miserable bastards... Eating, crapping, confused, afraid," Dean told her.

"I don't know. There's loyalty... forgiveness... love," she replied.

"Pain," Dean countered.

"Chocolate cake."

"Guilt."

"Sex," she said with a little smirk.

"Yeah, you got me there," Dean told her chuckling.

"I mean it. Every emotion, Dean, even the bad ones... It's why I fell. It's why... why I'd give anything not to have to go back. Anything," she said as her eyes looked behind him once again.

"Feelings are overrated, if you ask me," he said and he frowned as he turned around to look at what she was staring at. He took a deep breath as his eyes followed the rather tall brunette walking with the short one.

"It must be hard for her," Anna said as she never looked away from the brunette "To realize that angels aren't as good as she thought."

"Yeah. Sam was hit pretty hard by that too," Dean replied, his gaze glued to Kate until she was out of sight. He turned to look at Anna.

"She's holding onto her faith though," Anna told him as she looked up at him. "For her father. I wish I could be as loyal too… But being an angel is so much harder than being a human, and also so much less worth it."

"How's that possible? You guys are powerful and perfect. You don't doubt yourselves or God or anything."

"Perfect... Like a marble statue. Cold... no choice... only obedience. Dean, do you know how many angels have actually seen God? Seen his face?" She told him.

"All of you?" He asked her.

"Four angels," she replied surprising him. "Four. And I'm not one of them."

"That's it? Well, then how do you even know that there is a God?" Dean asked her.

"We have to take it on faith... Which we're killed if we don't have."

"Huh," Dean only said.

"Kate wouldn't have any trouble, nor your brother. They are willing to have faith in something they're not sure exist or not, because they need to believe they're not alone in this. They need to believe that all they've been through or keep going through is going to be paid off later," Anna explained to Dean whose eyebrows frowned a bit as he wondered what kind of things Kate had been through in her dimension. "I was stationed on earth 2,000 years. Just... watching... silent... invisible... out on the road... sick for home... waiting on orders from an unknowable father I can't begin to understand. So don't tell me that…" Dean couldn't help but laugh a bit at that.

"What is so funny? What?" Anna asked him.

"Nothing. Sorry," he replied shaking his head. "It's just...I can relate."

"Hey," Sam said as he walked to them.

"Did you find something?" Dean asked him.

"I think so," Sam replied.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Dean couldn't stop glancing at Kate through the rear-view mirror of his car as they were on the road to Union, Kentucky, where Anna's face had supposedly landed. He was driving his Impala with Sam on the seat at his right, and Ruby, Anna and Kate on the backseat. Kate was right behind Sam's seat and Ruby right behind his, as Anna was in the middle. Kate had just woken up from a thirty minutes nap and she was now staring outside through the window on her right. It was late and Sam had told Kate to go back to sleep if she wanted to, because there was still a few hours left before they reached the place they needed to be at. She had just told him that she would try to sleep later. Dean had noticed how Anna's eyes were glued to Kate when she was asleep and he couldn't help but wonder what her soul looked like.

When Kate started to stretch, Dean turned his gaze to the two other passengers on the backseat. He let out a laugh that pulled everyone's attention to him.

"What?" Ruby snapped.

"Nothing," he replied "It's just one human girl, an angel and a demon riding in the backseat. It's like the setup to a bad joke…" Dean said before continuing "or a Penthouse Forum letter." Ruby rolled her eyes while Kate shook her head. The fallen angel though just turned her eyes back to Kate.

"Dude... Reality... Porn," Sam told him making Kate's lips curled in a corner smile.

"You call this reality?" Dean asked and Kate rose her eyebrows as she tilted her head in agreement.

"Good point," she said more to herself than to anyone, they still heard her and Sam couldn't help but smile at that.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"Ouch," Kate winced as they walked in a field under the sunlight.

"You're okay?" Sam asked her as she put a foot up and saw the little rock she had stepped on which had put some sharping pressure on the below part of her left foot.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied looking up at him.

"It's beautiful," Dean said out loud as Kate, Sam and Ruby walked to him and looked up at what he was staring.

"Beautiful is an understatement" Kate said as she stared at the giant tree and the landscape it gave with its surroundings as the sun light shone on it, giving a sight that could only be from a fairytale.

"Would you believe me if I told you, your soul is even more beautiful, Kate?" Anna told the brunette.

"Not at all," Kate let out in a breath as she kept staring at the tree.

"Well, I do believe that it is," Ruby said as she looked at Kate before looking at the tree.

"It's where the grace touched down. I can feel it," Anna said as she made a few steps forward.

"You ready to do this?" Dean asked her.

"Not really," she replied.

"Anna, what are we even looking for?" Sam asked as Anna put a hand on the tree trunk.

"It doesn't matter. It's not here. Not anymore," Anna replied before looking at them. "Someone took it."

;;;;;;;;;;;;

Night had fallen and with it the cold air that not even the abandoned barn they were in could really soothe. Kate was warming her hands by rubbing them together as she cursed herself for not putting on a warmer coat or at least much warmer tops. She was sitting on an old barrel, her feet not touching the ground while Anna was sitting a few feet from her. Dean and Ruby were a few feet away from her while Sam had gone out to check something out.

"We still got the hex bags. I say we head back to the panic room," Dean suggested.

"What, forever?" Ruby asked him sarcastically.

"I'm just thinking out loud!" He snapped at her.

"Oh, you call that thinking?" Ruby snapped back at him.

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey. Stop it," Sam said as he walked in.

"Anna's grace is gone. You understand? She can't angel up," Ruby said as Kate stared at her and understood how in deep trouble they were "She can't protect us. We can't fight Heaven and Hell. One side maybe, but not both. Not at once," she said to them before glancing at Kate. "You might be the only one to survive; and still I don't think angels will really care if some collateral damages is done to you or not."

"The angels won't dare let you get hurt, Katie," Sam told Kate hoping to reassure the young woman.

"Did they protect you from the creature you told me attacked you last week? No," Ruby said to Kate "I bet all you want, they won't care today either even if they said you're to be protected!"

"Well, then we will protect her!" Sam almost shouted at Ruby which took aback both his brother and the demon.

"Um... guys?" Anna said her head tilted to one side. "The angels are talking again."

"What are they saying?" Kate asked in a little voice as she looked up at her.

"It's weird... Like a recording... a loop," Anna replied "It says, _Dean Winchester gives us Anna by midnight, or..._" Anna stopped herself which made Kate as confused as the others around her.

"Or what?" Dean asked.

"..._or we hurl him back to damnation_." Anna told him as she stared deep in his eyes. Kate's eyes immediately got big as she felt her heartbeats increase rapidly. She looked at Dean and knew right away that his heart must have stopped beating the second Anna finished her sentence. Kate felt her heart beat faster and harder against her ribcage as she started to feel very terrified for him. And, she knew he was keeping it to himself to not break down. She wanted to stand up and comfort him but she could feel that right now, he didn't want anyone to touch him.

"Anna... Do you know of any weapon that works on an angel? Sam asked frantically and Kate turned her head to him understanding clearly how he didn't want to let his brother down. As she remembered what Ruby had told her about the two brothers and the deal Dean had done, she knew that Sam would feel more than defeated if this time like the last time, he wouldn't be able to save his brother.

"Yeah, there must be weapons to stop them or maybe some spells?" Kate said as she jumped down from the barrel. She almost winced at the rapid sharp pain that went through her feet, but she didn't.

"Nothing we could get to... Not right now," Anna replied shaking her head.

"Okay, wait, wait. I say we call Bobby. We get him back from hedonism," Dean said and Kate turned her head to look at him. He looked desperate and that was a heartbreaking sight.

"Dean, what's he gonna tell us that we don't already know?" Sam told his brother.

"I don't know, but we gotta think of something!" Dean said almost in a shout as the brother's stared into each other's eyes with fear of what to come.

;;;;;;;;;;;;

A while after, Dean was studying a book over his car, feeling like suffocating when he was in the abandoned barn with the others. Dark memories of Hell wouldn't stop crossing his mind ever since the fallen angel had told him what Heaven was going to do if they wouldn't give her to them. Deep down, he wanted to give her immediately to them because he was frightened by the idea of going back down there. But, that would just prove to him that the monster he was downstairs, was still in him. And he couldn't give out an innocent; he couldn't put more blood on his already very dirty hands. He couldn't do that.

Hearing some noise, Dean turned his head to see Anna walking towards him, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked at him with a soft expression.

"Hey. Holding up okay?" He asked her as he looked at her.

"Trying," she replied.

"Yeah," he replied nodding his head as he looked down at the book. _I know the feeling_.

"A little scared, I guess," she replied as she stared at him while his gaze was focused on the book. She uncrossed her arms continued. "So, um... Dean... I just wanted to thank you."

"For what?" He asked her.

"Everything," she replied "You guys - you didn't have to help me…"

"Hey," Dean cut her off not wanting to hear any kind of preacher speech whereas the thought of giving her to save his own ass had shamefully crossed his mind earlier. "Let's can the "thanks for trying" speech, you know? Participation trophies suck ass," he tried to joke.

"I don't know. Maybe I don't deserve to be saved," she replied which made him look at her with a frown.

"Don't talk like that," Dean told her.

"I disobeyed. Lucifer disobeyed. It's our murder one, and I knew it. Maybe I got to pay," she told him a she stared into his eyes.

"Yeah, well, we've all done things we got to pay for," Dean told her and she walked closer to him before leaning on his car.

"I got to tell you something. You're not gonna like it," Anna said to him.

"Okay. What?" He asked her confused.

"About a week ago, I heard the angels talking... Not just about Kate and the mysterious reason of her being here…" She started "But about you too... What you did in Hell," she said noticing the sudden change of expression on his face. He swallowed his saliva as he tried to swallow her words. "Dean, I know," she told him as he tried to look away before her hand reached his cup and told him in an even softer voice "It wasn't your fault. You should forgive yourself."

"Anna, I don't w-want to, uh... I don't want to... I can't talk about that," he stuttered as he looked down.

"I know," she replied as she pulled her hand away from his face. "But when you can, you have people that want to help. You are not alone. That's all I'm trying to say," she told him. "If you could see how they're trying so hard to find how to get rid of the angels inside," she said nodding to the barn. "I'm pretty sure they're not doing it just to help me… Sam and Kate… Even, Ruby… They're doing it for you. They are here for you. You are not alone." He looked at her before she leaned up to him. Dean looked at her unsure of what to do as she got closer. Her lips met his as she kissed him.

"What was that for?" He asked her taken aback by her gesture.

"You know... Our last night on earth... All that," she smirked at him

"You're stealing my best line," he smirked back at her before he leaned down to kiss her again.

….

Kate looked up from the book she was reading when she saw Sam had fallen asleep over an open book. One of his hands was holding the wrapping of the chocolate bar she had given him earlier. She stared at him for a few seconds before she stood up. She walked around the table towards him, unwinding the scarf around her neck before gently covering him with it. He was a big guy, so it was hard to cover him completely with it, but Kate did the best she could. She softly took the wrapping away from his hand, hoping not to wake him up. He needed to rest a little bit after all the manic researching they've been doing since Anna told them what the angels were saying in loop.

Kate looked up to see Ruby staring at Sam a few feet away. Ruby looked up at her and then brought up her pointing finger on her lips, ordering her to not to say a word. Kate stared at her puzzled before Ruby started to make her way to the barn's doors. Kate stopped her by calling out her name in a whisper. Ruby turned to look at her with rose eyebrows as she asked her impatiently with her eyes what she wanted. Kate walked quickly to her.

"Where are you going?" She whispered to her.

"The plan. I'm gonna get it started," she replied in a whisper before she turned around and started to walk out.

"What? No, maybe we can find another plan that is less risky than this one," Kate whispered to the demon as she followed her outside. Ruby turned around and looked at Kate with an almost exasperated expression.

"Look," Ruby told her, "this plan is the only one we've got and we don't have time to find another one."

"But we could warn Sam instead of going off while he's asleep," she whispered to Ruby who started walking again. "I mean we haven't even told Dean and Anna about it." Ruby stopped walking as her gaze fell on the Impala not that far away from the barn. The windows were covered with steam making the inside impossible to see from the outside, and the car was slightly rocking. The demon scoffed.

"I think that the two really concerned by this, are too busy screwing to even care listening to our plan," Ruby told her as Kate frowned her eyebrows in pure confusion before she glanced at the Impala. It froze her to the spot. Ruby turned to look at her. "You haven't seen me leaving, okay?" She warned the brunette whose gaze was glued to the rocking car.

"How… dare… he-" Kate started to say through her teeth. Ruby frowned her eyebrows as she glanced at the black car before looking back at Kate. "How dare he have fun while we're going through all that trouble for him!" She exclaimed loudly.

"Kate, shhh," Ruby said before she cupped Kate's chin in her hand and made her look at her. "Get over it. Dean Winchester has never been a very grateful man. You can find way better." Kate looked at her while trying to ignore the now becoming louder and louder sounds coming from the car. "You don't tell anyone that you've seen me leaving, okay? You just keep digging in your books and prepare yourself to what's gonna happen, okay?"

"Okay," Kate replied. Ruby nodded at her as she pulled her hand away from her chin. Ruby walked away and Kate glanced at the car again before returning in the barn where she hoped no sounds from the car would reach her ears.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"Look at that," The tall black angel in a suit said as Dean walked in the barn. "It's so cute when monkeys wear clothes."

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" Dean said as he looked around and noticed the barn was empty. No Sam, no Ruby, no Kate.

"It's the only way we could chat," Uriel replied. "Since you're hiding like cowards."

"Don't normally see you off leash. Where's your boss?" Dean said back to the angel.

"Castiel? Oh, he, uh... He's not here," he replied as he looked up a moment. "See, he has this weakness. He likes you." Uriel's face hardened as he continued "Time's up, boy. We want the girl."

"Which one?" Dean asked "See, there are two girls we're supposed to protect. One because you asked us and we agreed without asking questions, and another one you dicks seem to hate on so much."

"Funny when you lay all of this that way…" Uriel said pretending to think over Dean's words "You see, I don't think you are that good at protecting the little brunette. Maybe we should take her with us, it will give you more time to fool around with the one you are supposed to give to us."

"I don't think Kaitlin would like to be protected by people like you. But I'll let her know," Dean replied "As for Anna, I wouldn't try that if I were you. See, she got her grace back. Full-blown angel now."

"That would be a neat trick, considering…" Uriel started as he took out a necklace from around his neck and showed it to Dean who stared at it surprised. "I have her grace right here. We can't let Hell get their hooks into her."

"Well, then why don't you just give her back her angel juice?" Dean asked him.

"She committed a serious crime," Uriel simply replied.

"What? Thinking for herself?" Dean countered.

"This is our business, not yours. She's not even human…. Not technically."

"Yeah, well, I guess I just like being a pain in the pooper," Dean replied and Uriel's lips curled into a smile as he stared at the hunter.

"No. There's more," the angel said as he walked towards Dean and laughed as he circled him. "You cut yourself a slice of... angel food cake. Didn't you? Huh? You did."

"What do you care?" Dean replied as he stared with a hard look at the angel. "You're junkless down there, right? Like a Ken doll?"

"Ooh. Well, it's your last chance. Give us the girl, or-"

"Or what? What, you're gonna toss me back in the hole?" Dean told him "You're bluffing."

"Try me," Uriel told him harshly. "This is a whole lot bigger than the plans we got for you, Dean. You can be replaced." Dean nodded his head slowly understanding that the angel could easily send him back to Hell right then. But still, he didn't want to show how scared he really was.

"What the hell? Go ahead and do it," Dean said as he opened his arms, showing the angel that he was going to embrace whatever fate was thrown at him.

"You want to know the truth, Dean?" Uriel told Dean whose gaze was avoiding the angel's. "We really could replace you. With a soul like Kaitlin Anderson's for instance, you can be put aside from every single plan we've got."

"Then why haven't you replaced me yet?" Dean asked him as he looked at the angel.

"You really wouldn't want us to take her instead of you," Uriel told him and Dean stared at him wondering why but never asking it out loud. "If you follow our orders, you can do the job we've given to you without suffering. On the other hand, _she_ would suffer a lot. It would be necessary to remodel her whole being. And, I am not trying to lap up compliments, but some of us, angels, have skills to this kind of restructuration of a being and its soul, that has inspired the best tortures you've faced in Hell," Uriel told him with a little smirk. "Or even given yourself."

"I thought she was to be protected- " Dean started only to be cut off by the angel.

"She is. But she can be used for greater things; things you don't seem to understand!" Uriel shouted before shaking his head. "Still, you're just crazy enough to go, aren't you?"

"What can I say? I don't break easy," Dean replied.

"Oh, yes... you do," Uriel told him. "Because the moment I told you we could replace you with her, you started to rethink of all the possible ways to prevent that. But, I'm sure I can find another weak spot… A better one. Because, Dean, you're really easy to break. You just got to know where to apply the right pressure."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"Katie, wake up," Sam whispered as he shook Kate's shoulder gently. It was very early in the morning now and Sam had woken up just a few minutes ago to find himself covered with Kate's scarf as she was sleeping over two books right across him. He shook her shoulder again only to have her moan and move a bit trying to get away from what was disturbing her sleep. "Come on, Katie," he told her louder as he kept shaking her shoulder. She groaned as she opened her eyes and looked up at Sam. "Do you know where Ruby is?" he asked her.

"What? Why? She's not here?" Kate replied as she sat up on her chair while rubbing her eyelids.

"No," he replied. "I woke up half an hour ago to find her gone."

"You should know, she's your Hell buddy," Dean said making Kate turn her head to glance at him as he walked to a barrel and sat down there. Although, she knew he had spent some quality time with the fallen angel last night, his face didn't wear any kind of happiness. He looked worn out as if he had spent a bad night or maybe had a bad dream.

"She'll certainly be back before we know it," Kate said trying not to break her promise to Ruby to not tell on her, and trying to reassure them in the same time.

The brunette looked down at her watch to see that she had slept only two hours before looking up at Sam who was obviously very worried. She stood up and walked to where her back bag was. She pulled a bottle out of it, and used it to wash her face a bit. Sam looked at her and she could feel it, but she only pretended not to know. She drank a long sip of water, almost finishing her bottle, before she put it back in her bag.

"Sure, we can always trust demons just as much as we can trust angels," Dean said more to himself than anyone else. Kate glanced at him but didn't say a word as she walked to Sam who was giving his back to his brother.

"I'm suddenly very up to call Bobby, you know?" She told the taller brother in a little voice as she looked up at him. He looked down at her and she gave him a little smile. "We'll make it. We will save your brother and Anna," she whispered firmly to him as she put a hand on his forearm and squeezed gently. He stared at her, almost studying her.

"You remember when you told me I was kind—_too_ kind? You know, how people that kind are people who went through a lot and don't want anyone else to go through the same hell?" He whispered to her and she slowly nodded remembering that time two weeks ago when they went to a dinner together. "You're very kind too, Katie." He stared into her brown eyes as she stared into his hazel ones that held a glimpse of green.

"Little early for that, isn't it?" Anna said as she walked to the middle of the barn, while Dean was drinking in a flask. Kate turned around as she took advantage of Anna's arrival in this place of the barn to avoid Sam's comment and his eyes that seemed to stare too deep into hers.

"It's two a.m. somewhere," Dean replied in a cold tone that made Anna frown a bit.

"You're okay?" Anna asked him.

"Yeah, of course," Dean lied.

Suddenly, they heard the wind howl very loudly outside before the barn's doors slammed open. Two persons, which one Kate recognized as being Castiel, walked in. She quickly supposed that the tall black man was Uriel. The brown head was taken aback by their entrance and the way they walked. They looked very impressive and as Kate realized Ruby hadn't come back yet, she started to panic. She looked at the black man and was surprised to see that he looked more imposing than Anna whereas she used to be the boss of the both of them. But, she quickly remembered that it wasn't their true forms. It was their vessels. She couldn't help wonder what their true forms looked like.

"Hello, Anna. It's good to see you," Castiel said before he turned his gaze to Kate who felt immediately uncomfortable as he wasn't the only one staring at her.

"Very beautiful specimen," Uriel said as he stared at Kate before he looked directly at Dean. "But we're not here for that, are we?"

"How? How did you find us?" Sam asked as Castiel glanced at Dean before squinting his eyes at the older hunter. Kate frowned her eyebrows as she looked at Dean.

"Dean?" She said realizing what he had done as Sam and Anna stared at him with shocked faces as well.

"I'm sorry," Dean said to Anna as he felt more than guilty for his coward action.

"Why?" Sam asked not understanding how his brother could ever do this.

"Because they gave him a choice," Anna replied to Sam. "They either kill me... or kill you, Sam. I know how their minds work." She turned to Dean and leaned up to kiss his lips. Kate looked away after she caught the painful expression on Dean's face. "You did the best you could. I forgive you," Anna told Dean before turning to the angels and taking a few steps towards them. "Okay. No more tricks. No more running. I'm ready."

"I'm sorry," Castiel said to the red-head.

"No, you're not. Not really. You don't know the feeling," Anna replied.

"Still, we have a history. It's just-"

"Orders are orders. I know-" Anna said before Kate cut her off.

"Wait!" The brunette shouted as she stepped next to Anna. "You can't do this… She hasn't done anything wrong! Don't you think falling and becoming a human has already been a punishment itself?"

"You don't understand," Castiel told her gently as Uriel interrupted her.

"You don't need to understand," he said as he looked at her with a stern gaze.

"It's okay, Kate," Anna said to Kate as she turned her gaze to look at the two angels. "_I_ understand… Just make it quick."

"Don't you touch a hair on that poor girl's head," a man's voice said from behind the hunters. They all turned to see a middle aged man pointing at them as two others men were standing behind him. They were holding a bleeding Ruby. Kate's eyes met Ruby's, and Kate understood quickly that those men were demons. "Oh I see we've got another pretty thing here," the man said making Kate look at him to only find him staring at her with a devious smirk. She understood quickly he was Alastair. Kate felt Dean's hand on her back as he made her walk quickly to the side with his brother and the fallen angel.

"How dare you come in this room you pussing sore?" Uriel said as he walked towards the demon who turned his attention back to the angel making his way towards him. Kate saw Ruby crawling on the ground as she tried to go on the opposite side.

"Name-calling. That hurt my feelings… You sanctimonious, fanatical prick," Alastair replied.

"Turn around and walk away now," Castiel said to the demons.

"Sure," Alastair said "Just give us the girl. We'll make sure she gets punished good and proper," he turned his eyes to Kate and smirked "And what about we take this one too?"

"You know know who we are and what we will do. I won't say it again. Leave now... or we lay you to waste," Castiel told him as he walked towards him.

"Think I'll take my chances," the demon said to Castiel.

Then the angels started to fight against the demons as the others stood aside. Kate was surprised to see how Uriel succeeded to kill one of the demons with his hand, which created some sort of light to go off the demon's eyes and mouth. It didn't seem to work with Castiel who was soon straddled by Alastair who kept hitting him. The demon started to strangle the angel as he chanted a few Latin words. Kate frowned as she understood the words and also understood that it had to be a sort of exorcism. Quickly, Dean grabbed a crawbar and went to Alastair, hitting him hard in the face with it; saving Castiel from being exorcised. The demon stood and shook his head as he stepped towards Dean.

"Dean, Dean, Dean… I am so disappointed," Alastair said to Dean as Sam and Dean stared at the demon with fear. "You had such promise." He held his hand out and started to choke the hunter with some sort of invisible force. Dean started to grant in pain, and Sam soon followed him. Kate turned to look at them before she looked at the demon and did what she thought was the best.

"Exorcizamus te omnis immundus spiritus-" She started before Alastair flipped his hand at her and choked her too.

"Really? And to think that I was planning on being very nice to you," he said as he looked at the brunette as she held the base of her throat. The sensation was terrible. It was like being strangled by a very strong hand almost as strong as the Cleaner's hand, only from the inside. It literally felt like her throat was being crushed and strangled from the inside.

"Omn- Omnis satanica..." Kate tried to keep saying the exorcism spell in spite of what the demon was making her feel. "Potestas omnis incursio infernalis-"

"I don't think so," the demon said as he curled his fingers and she started to suffocate more as she fell on her knees.

"Shut your eyes!" Anna's voice shouted all of sudden. "Shut your eyes! Shut your eyes!" They all did as Anna kept screaming. A blind light appeared in the whole barn as well as a violent wind. All of sudden the pain that was going through Sam, Dean and Kate vanished in the same time than the wind. They all put their arms away from their faces and opened their eyes. Kate coughed as the brothers stood up, Sam helping her up before Dean walked to the middle of the barn. He bent down to take Ruby's knife that the demon had left behind. He looked up at the angels.

"Well, what are you guys waiting for? Go get Anna. Unless, of course, you're scared," Dean told them.

"This isn't over," Uriel said as Castiel put a hand on his shoulder stopping him from doing whatever he was going to in response of Dean's arrogance.

"Oh, it looks over to me, junkless," Dean replied as Uriel turned his gaze to Kate. Sam and Dean looked at him before the two angels vanished in thin air. Kate stared a bit surprised as it was the very first time she ever saw something disappear the way they did. She had seen on TV back in her world, she had read about it in Bobby's books in this world, but still she had never witnessed it.

"What a real perseverance you had with Alastair," Sam said to Kate who looked up at him as they all breathed heavily.

"It's actually called stubbornness," she told him as Ruby walked to them. Sam and Dean chuckled lightly at her answer.

"You okay?" Sam asked the demon.

"Not so much," she replied.

"What took you so long to get here?" Dean told her. She looked up at him.

"Sorry, I'm late with the demon delivery. I was only being tortured," she replied with sarcasm as Kate looked down at the blood on her shirt and grimaced.

"I got to hand it to you, Sammy. Bringing them all together all at once – angels and demons. It was a damn good plan," Dean said.

"It was actually Kate who came up with this idea," Sam replied.

"It was more a joke than a real plan," Kate admitted as Dean looked at her, a bit surprised that she would come with this kind of idea.

"Yeah, well when you got Godzilla and Mothra on your ass, best to get out of their way and let them fight," Sam said as Ruby looked at him with a funny look. Sam looked at Dean. "So, I guess she's some big-time angel now, huh? She must be happy… Wherever she is."

"I doubt it," Dean said thoughtfully.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Kate's eyes were closed as she was laying on the backseat of the Impala with her scarf covering her eyes from the day light that was preventing her to properly fall asleep. The brothers decided to let her rest as Dean parked to the roadside and they got out to drink a beer. Sam sat on the hood while Dean leaned against the side of the car near him.

"I can't believe we made it out there," Dean said.

"Again," Sam told him as Dean held out his bottle of beer and Sam clinked it with his own. "Maybe we should wake Kate up to celebrate with us?"

"Nah," Dean said as he took a sip of his beer. "She deserves to rest a little bit more." Sam nodded as he looked at his brother. Little did they know that she was actually listening to them while pretending to be asleep, her face and upper body covered by her scarf. "I know you heard him."

"Who?"

"Alastair. What he said… about how I had promise," Dean told his brother, his voice sounding heavy in Kate's ears.

"I heard him," Sam replied.

"You're not curious?" Dean asked him.

"Dean, I'm damn curious. But you're not talking about Hell, and I'm not pushing."

"It wasn't four months, you know," Dean said after a few seconds of silence, and Kate frowned under her scarf.

"What?" Sam asked Dean.

"It was four months up here, but down there… I don't know. Time's different. It was more like forty years," Dean told him. Kate stopped breathing when she heard him say that.

"My God," Sam let out.

"They… They sliced and carved and tore at me in ways that you…Until there was nothing left. And then suddenly… I would be whole again… Like magic…. Just so they could start all over." Kate could hear clearly the pain that Dean was trying to hide behind a hard voice as he confessed to his little brother. "And Alastair… At the end of everyday… Every one… He would come over…" Dean's voice let more of his pain show up. Kate knew he had no strength anymore to hold it all back. "And he would make me an offer. To take me off the rack... If I put souls on... If I started the torturing. And every day, I told him to stick it where the sun shines." Dean was silent for a few seconds as Kate felt the tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't imagine being as strong as Dean, for that long. "For thirty years, I told him. But then I couldn't do it anymore, Sammy. I couldn't." Kate closed her eyes as she could feel the feelings of defeat, shame and pain that Dean was going through. She couldn't help it. She wanted to comfort him because it hurt her to know that someone like him had to go through all of this. "I got off that rack. God help me, I got right off it, and I started ripping them apart. I lost count of how many souls," Dean kept confessing as Kate silently cried on the backseat. Dean was crying too, she could hear it in his voice. "I cut Kaitlin too… I sliced her throat open on the second night after her arrival… It was as if… As if everything I was in Hell had come back suddenly… And I cut her…" Kate wanted to walk out of the car and tell him that he was already forgiven a long time ago, but she knew she couldn't. "The souls down there… The… The things that I did to them…"

"Dean…" Sam said gently. "Dean, look, you held out for thirty years. That's longer than anyone would have," Sam tried to comfort his brother but this wasn't helping, and Kate knew that. Because Dean didn't care how long anyone else would have held out. He didn't care if someone would held out just a day or a century, all that mattered to him was the fact that he did it. He gave up and tortured people the same way he had been tortured. He tortured those souls the same way those monsters had tortured him.

"How I feel…" Dean started to speak after a short moment of silence as Kate heard him cry. "This… Inside me… I wish I couldn't feel anything, Sammy. I wish I couldn't feel a damn thing."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;

When the Winchesters re-took the road in silence, Kate stayed quiet on the backseat as she tried to control herself not to cry. She was relieved that she had put the scarf on her face, this way the brothers wouldn't see the tears that had streamed down her face. It wasn't hard for her to imagine how brokenhearted Sam surely was after his brother's confession. Ruby had told her how hard Sam had taken it when his big brother had gone to Hell and he hadn't been able to prevent it. The fact that he was now completely aware of what his big brother had to go through, had without doubt destroyed him on the inside. She closed her eyes, wondering what they had done to deserve all of this pain, and for the hundredth time she started doubting her faith before falling asleep.

When Kate opened her eyes, she found herself standing in the middle of a room. She frowned as she looked around. She was in a very lit up, fancy room with many paintings on the wall and a few fancy chairs that looked like they cost a lot of money. The place actually looked like one of those magnificent royal rooms she had seen while visiting the palace of Versailles on her first year in France. She walked to one of the painting when suddenly, a voice spoke up.

"Hello, Kate," the brown-haired spun around to face a rather old-man wearing a grey suit and grinning at her. She frowned at him. "How are you? We've got a lot of work to do, but first of all let me introduce myself," he told her as he stepped towards her, one of his hand out for her to shake.

"My name is Zachariah. And you and I are going to be very good friends."

**Author's note :**

**In thank of your incredible support and amazing reviews that keep me motivating and smiling all day, a long chapter that I hope will satisfy you **

**Love,**

**A.**


	9. Chapter 9

Her brown eyes stared with suspicion at the hand that was pulled out towards her, before looking up at the grinning man's face. A thousand questions were crossing her mind at thespeed of light. Taking a step back, as she kept staring at him, Kate let a few of those questions leave her mind as she asked them aloud.

"Who are you? And where am I?"

"I told you, I'm Zachariah," he replied with the same grin that made Kate feel uneasy. It was too large and seemed too forced and not genuine at all. "And this is some of our best waiting room," he said as he opened his arms and looked around. She only stared at him. "It was inspired by _Le Château de Versailles_, but you must know that, right? You are actually asleep right now. I just decided to sneak into your dream and bring you in this lovely place. I thought it would be a better place to have a good little talk." He looked at her and gave her a large smile without showing his teeth this time.

"What are you?" She asked him, her eyes squinted at him.

"Here!" He exclaimed as he pointed at her and chuckled. "Here is the question I was waiting for! Staying with the Winchesters and that old drunk for only two weeks, and you're already talking like them. I like it!" She analyzed him in silence. The way he stood, the way he talked, Kate was pretty sure he was a man of power. "I'm an angel." Kate's eyes got slightly wide as she took two steps back. She wasn't expecting him to be an angel. "Oh no, come on, I'm one of the good guys!"

"Sorry, if I have a hard time believing this. It's just that a short while ago, I faced angels that were willing to throw back a good back to Hell," she told him with a bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"Oh no, no, no," he shook his head, "this is a whole big misunderstanding. It was just a way to motivate you all to give us back our rebellious colleague... And well, sister. I mean, okay, I know we got a bit too far with this threat, but we would have never dared throwing Dean Winchester back to Hell. We saved him for a reason, why would we just get rid of him so stupidly?" Kate stared at the angel, her lips forming a thin line. "Besides, he is a good man as you said... A _righteous_ man, we had to save him."

"Why did you take so long to do so?" She asked him and he let out a long sigh.

"It's complicated. It's all bureaucrat things, not fun at all!" He replied before seeing Kate's hard gaze staring at him. "And not fair at all. But, you have to understand, Kate. There's a plan, a very important plan. And every single person in this world has their part in it." Zachariah looked at Kate as her gaze wasn't that hard anymore.

"Do I have a part in it?" She asked frowning her eyebrows.

"This plan in which everyone has a part in, was decided by God," he replied as he took a step towards her. "And God hasn't put you anywhere in his plan. It isn't your dimension. You are not supposed to be here, Kate. But you are. And no one knows why," he told her as he took two other steps towards her. "However, it doesn't mean, you have to be put aside." Kate frowned at him. "If you help us, we will help you. It is as easy as that."

"What do you mean? What do you want me to help you with?" She asked him, still not trusting him.

"Keep the brothers motivated in this course of stopping the seals to get broken, of preventing the Apocalypse," he told her with a smirk. "That's all we need you to do."

"And you send me back home?"

"And, we will send you back home," he replied with a smile. Kate stared at her and shook her head. It was a tricky question.

"I don't believe you," she said "I was told the doors are locked. The... Cleaner told me this. And excuse me if I believe his words."

"The Cleaner," he let out a light scoff. "He has a grudge against you. Hasn't he told you?"

"He told me I took something from him. But I don't understand... I've never-"

"October 31st, 1983."

"What?"

"It doesn't ring a bell, does it?" He told her with a corner smile. "It will, someday. But today, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you follow our orders."

"I'm not an angel, why should I follow your orders?" She asked him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You don't wanna go back home?"

"I know you can't send me back," she replied looking straight into his eyes.

"But we can prevent you from going back when time will come," he told her with an almost devilish smile upon his lips as she stared at him confused. "What, you haven't thought about it? Those doors were locked before they opened to get you here, don't you simply think it can happen again?" She stared at him. "The Cleaner hasn't said they were locked _forever_, has he?"

"So you're threatening me?"

"I am not threatening you..." He let out an exasperated sigh. "Why everybody always think I am threatening them? All, I am doing is pointing out the various and obvious things that might happen if you do something else. That's not threatening." He walked to a large fancy chair and sat down, putting his left ankle on his right knee as he looked up at her. "Threatening that would be more like this," he said as he pointed at her with a snap of his fingers.

All of sudden, a flash of images filled her mind as she crumbled down, her hands gripping at her head. She felt a very hot wave going through her whole body as loud and piercing screams filled her mind too. Images of a bloody skin getting cut off in pieces, a hand getting burned by a boiling hot iron bar that dug inside the palm, splashes of blood and of pieces of fingers. Fire flames appearing around her and getting wilder in less than a second. Then she saw Dean's face. Crying, screaming out for help as he was laid on a rack. A massive black silhouette that looked almost human but in the same time looked too twisted to be human, was hovering him, and holding a long thin blade in its hands. It laughed as Dean kept screaming in pain. The creature pushed down into Dean's chest the long blade and Kate's breath stopped as she felt_ it_. The creature slid it down inside Dean's chest, forcefully passing through the organs and she felt every second of it.

Kate screamed as it abruptly stopped. She opened her eyes, removed her hands from her hair as she breathed heavily. Tears had streamed down her face, as she looked up to find Zachariah bending down in front of her with a satisfied smile.

"That is what happened to Dean Winchester, and what will happen to you if you rebel against us," he told her no more smiling as his eyes held a seriousness that was almost deadly. "And, this is what I call threatening." He stood up as Kate stayed on the floor, trying to catch her breath back as the images and the sensations wouldn't leave her. "Now," the angel said as he was giving her his back while staring at a painting on the wall. "What I want you to understand is that we need you, just _not_ as much as you will soon need us. We can help you get back to your world, we can help you be happy, we can make all your wishes come true, if you accept to only do this one thing I asked you to."

"You..." She started before licking her lips. "You said I wasn't in the plan... So why… Why would you need me now?" His lips turned into a grin as he spun around to look down at her.

"I love it when you act smart and ask the good, intelligent questions," he told her as she tried to keep her thoughts completely away from what he had just made her see and feel. "You are like a joker. We've got all those fifty-two cards and we are supposed to play only with them, but out of the blue, the game changes. And we have one joker card added to the stack, and this card has got the power to make us win the game even if we've got a bad hand. Wouldn't you take advantage of that card too, huh?"

"What about God?"

"What about Him?"

"You obviously decided to put me in His plan... Doesn't it bother Him that you want to rewrite his plan by adding me in?" Kate asked him as she looked up at him.

"God..." Zachariah let out in a breath as he nodded his head before he stopped and looked down at the young woman. Kate didn't like the way he was staring at her, almost as if he was plotting something in his mind. He licked his lips as he prevented himself from smirking, making his way towards her. He bent down and whispered to her. "God... He wants you to listen to us...And of course, this has to stay between us." He gave her a little smile that looked more like a growing smirk actually. "And if you do listen to us, not only will we help you get back to your dimension, but we will also send you back there a few months back with one wonderful gift."

"What do you mean?" She asked staring at him confused.

"We will give you the possibility to prevent your father from dying," he replied as her eyes got big with shock and a sudden hope filled her completely. "Don't you want to go back there and save him from that terrible lung cancer that killed him? Well, if you do your job well, you will deserve this. So what do you say? Are you motivated enough now?"

* * *

><p>;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;<p>

Kate's eyes shut open. She turned her head to the right and blinked a few times as her gaze met the greenish hazel ones of Sam Winchester leaning over his seat to look at her laying on the backseat.

"Time to wake up," he told her with a gentle smile. She sat up and glanced at the driver's seat to find it empty.

"Where's Dean?" She asked him as she rubbed her eyelids.

"He's checking us in," he replied making her frown her eyebrows as she looked outside. "We're in Iowa. Dean and I preferred to stop so we could grab a bite and have a good catch on sleep, even though you've already gotten a good one," he gave her a smile. She looked at him, thoughtfully. "You're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just..." She frowned. "I just feel like I've got something to do but I can't remember what exactly..."

"It'll come back to you later, eventually," he told her and she glanced at him before biting down on her bottom lip and frowning her eyebrows as she tried harder to remember what was that thing she had to do.

"I can't remember my dream either," she mumbled thoughtfully.

"That's what I call luck," he replied with a chuckle. She looked up at him with risen eyebrows. "Trust me, I wish I could forget half of the things I see when I sleep." She simply gave him a soft smile. "Come on," he told her as he opened his door and got out of the car. She put her hands on her face and rubbed them down before taking a deep breath and getting out of the car too. She closed the door and sighed, leaning against it quietly.

Sam glanced at her, debating with his mind whether he should talk about what one of the things that have been bugging him for hours, or not. He wanted to know why she hadn't told him that his big brother had cut her throat. He wanted to know why she had kept this secret. And he also wanted to tell her that any other day, his brother wouldn't have dared touching her. He wanted to tell her that his brother was a good brother, and that if he hadn't been through what he had been through lately, he wouldn't have done anything to her but protect her.

"Room 32!" Dean's voice suddenly exclaimed pulling Sam and Kate attention to him. Kate turned around to look at the dirty-blonde-haired man who was holding up two key rooms in his hand. She could remember his confession to his brother, before she had fallen asleep but she forced herself to not think about it. Not now. Dean threw one of the keys to Sam who caught it easily in one hand. Kate walked to Dean as he made his way to get his duffle bag in the hood.

"Do I get my own too?" She asked him referring to the key, as he opened the hood.

"No, you're bunking with us tonight," he replied as he grabbed his duffle bag and carried it on his shoulder before taking her back bag and turning around to look at her. "Your face looks a bit puffy," he told her with a slight grimace. She glared at him.

"Wow, you really do know how to talk to women, Dean," she replied with the less excited voice she could use.

"If only you knew," he smirked at her as Sam appeared by his side taking his own duffle bag. She rolled her eyes as Dean closed the hood and started to walk away with his brother, carrying his own duffle bag and her back bag. Kate turned around and looked at the tall duo as they walked away. She sighed and followed them quickly.

"Does that mean the room will have multiple bedrooms inside?" She asked Dean as they walked up the few stairs there was before reaching the hallway leading to their room.

"In case you haven't noticed," Dean said as they walked down a hallway until they reached the room 32, which was relatively quick. "I haven't really checked us into The Plaza," he finished as he looked down at her with a sarcastic smile. Sam opened the door and stood on the side to let Kate get in first, but Dean walked in first, throwing his duffle bag on the nearest bed.

"Thanks," Kate said to Sam as she gave him a polite smile before walking in. Dean put her bag on the little blue and white plastic table that was surrounded by four plastic chairs of the same colour. Kate scanned the room as she walked to the middle while Sam closed the door behind him.

It was a very typical dirty motel room with no style at all. There were two queen size beds which yellow covers were brought out by the gloomy grey and blue paper wall. A little blue couch was put in one corner not far away from a door that Kate was sure was the bathroom.

"As I said, not the Plaza," Dean said pulling her attention to him. His green eyes met her brown ones, and she quickly turned them to Sam.

"Where do I sleep?" She asked him as she was pretty sure that Dean had called dibs on the bed he had thrown his bag on, and Sam was going to sleep on the other one.

"You take this bed, I'll take the couch," Sam answered making Kate glance at the couch before looking back at younger Winchester, as the elder one made his way to the bathroom with his duffle bag.

"You won't even fit," she told Sam as she glanced at the couch again.

"I'll manage," he replied with a corner smile before he walked to the couch. She quickly ran to it and turned around to find herself facing his chest, very closely. She looked up at him and immediately met his own gaze. Kate realized it was the first time she was this close to Sam without it being for a hug, and it was the first time she noticed how very tall and imposing he really was. If he wasn't acting as a big teddy bear all the time with her, she would have been more than scared to be around him.

"I'll take the couch," she told him in a little voice, before regaining a much firmer voice. "I'm smaller than you, I'll fit better." He opened his mouth but she shook her head. "That's my last word, mister the gentleman of the year."

"Alright then," he chuckled as he turned around and walked to the bed further to the room's door. He put his duffle bag on it and started digging in it when they heard the shower run. "Gentleman of the year isn't a price my brother will ever win."

"As long as he doesn't use all of the hot water," she told him shrugging.

* * *

><p>;;;;;;;;<p>

A couple of hours later, Sam, Dean and Kate had gone to a diner restaurant, only ten minutes away from the motel. After Dean had taken his shower, Sam had insister for Kate to take her own before he took his. Kate had accepted and she had taken a very quick shower without getting her hair wet, making sure to leave as much hot water to Sam as possible. She had also noticed that Sam had been more talkative with her when Dean was taking his shower, than Dean when Sam was taking his shower. She had observed Dean quietly as he had put salt lines at every single exits, even the windows. He had explained to Kate why he was doing so and she had told him she knew why before standing up and helping him. Dean's gaze had been glued to her and Kate had noticed it twice. She had turned her head to him only to find him look away, trying to hide what he had been doing. However, it hadn't bothered Kate as much as the fact that she knew she had something to do but couldn't point a finger at it; not at all. Even, on the way to the diner restaurant, while Sam and Dean had chatted about an old case, Kate had tried remembering, in vain.

"I'll get the chicken salad with a diet soda, please," Sam said to the young waitress who wrote down his order on the tiny notebook she had between her fingers. Kate and Dean stared at him and he turned to look at them. "What?"

"You're serious?" Kate told him "Diet soda too?" Sam sighed as he rolled his eyes.

"What about you?" The blonde waitress asked Kate who looked up at her to find her pull her shirt down in order to make her cleavage much more sinking. The waitress was glancing at Dean every then and now in a very subtle way and Kate was pretty sure that all the waitress wanted to do was focus on Dean and his order. Or _just_ Dean.

"Hum, I'll have the cheeseburger menu with a beer, please," Kate replied which made Dean look at her with a grin. She looked at him and couldn't help the little amused smile that grew on her lips at the way he was staring at her.

"And what can I get to you?" The waitress said seductively to Dean. Kate looked at the blonde girl, with rose eyebrows. She wasn't expecting the waitress to be so flirtatious. She couldn't be older than nineteen years old, and still here she was, hitting on a much older man. Sam chuckled amused as he turned his head to Kate. She glanced at him as Dean ordered the exact same thing that she had ordered. "Alright, I'll bring you that as fast as possible. If you need anything don't hesitate to call me."

"And what name are we supposed to call?" Dean flirted back which made Kate's head snap at him.

"Hailey," the girl said as she leaned over a little bit and pointed to the tag-name on her vest. It was hung right on her left breast making it impossible for Dean not to catch a glimpse of the girl's cleavage.

"That's a pretty name," Dean replied with the worst pickup lines.

"I'm sure yours is prettier," she told him before Sam coughed and the young waitress turned her head to look at him. "Hum, I'll be back in a few."

"Seriously, Dean?" Kate asked him staring at him as his eyes was checking the waitress out as she walked away. She kicked his knee under the table and he yelped.

"What was that for?" He told her as Sam looked at her surprised by her action.

"She's barely legal, Dean," Kate told him as she waved her hand to the direction the waitress left.

"She's legal," he told her "Otherwise, she wouldn't have flirted with me, but with sasquatch here."

"Your argument is lame," she told him as she shook her head.

"Is that a crime if I wanna have some fun?" He told her and she sighed remembering that almost a day ago he was _having fun_ with Anna.

"If she turns out to be illegal, yeah, it is," she replied as she leaned on the table.

"She's not illegal," Dean told her as he leaned on the table too, towards her.

"Because she hasn't hit on Sam? That's a lame argument," she said before taking a rather long breath and continuing. "She certainly hasn't hit on Sam because he's sitting next to me which eighty-two percent of the population takes it as a sign of romantic couple when it's not in a fancy restaurant. Besides, you checked her out when we got in, so she could have taken the hint that she could totally try to flirt with you. She waited for the moment she'll take your order to make her moves because it gave her time to analyze the relationships between the three of us, which means that she's not some stupid girl who doesn't go to school. As a matter of fact, she is more likely a senior year student," Kate told Dean quickly as she stared at him.

"How- how can you even know that she's a senior year student?" Sam asked her as she pointed at the counter without breaking her eye contact with Dean.

"Saw her studying a senior year book when we walked in," Kate replied as Sam looked over to the counter. As a matter of fact, he saw the pile of books and he noticed the young waitress taking a glance at one book before walking to them with their drinks. Sam looked at Kate and Dean who were still staring at each other when the young girl came.

"Two beers and a diet soda," Hailey said as she stopped in front of their booth. Kate and Dean pulled back staring at each other as the waitress put down the drinks.

"Thanks," Sam told her.

"Hum, Hailey," Dean said never breaking his eye contact with the brunette sitting in front of him. "So you do something aside from working here?"

"Hum not really, just high school and stuff, you know," the waitress replied as she looked back and forth at Kate and Dean, not understanding what was happening. Kate's lips slightly curled into a victorious smile.

"You're repeating a year?" Dean said as he glanced up at the girl who giggled.

"Oh hell, no! I've actually skipped a year. I'm sixteen years old," she replied and Dean's facial expression just dropped as Kate stared at him with an amused grin. "Why?" The waitress asked nervously as she looked at the three of them while Dean's head was looking down at his drink, avoiding eye contact with the waitress.

"Nothing," Sam replied saving the day. "We just saw you studying. Good luck with your studies."

"Oh thanks," she replied as she glanced at Dean before slowly backing away, still very confused by what had just happened.

"Dean, she's gone," Sam told his brother who slowly rose his head before glancing at the brunette next to his brother.

"You can say I told you so. I can see it in your eyes, how badly you want to," Dean told Kate who only smirked at him without saying a word. She took her beer and brought it to her lips before whispering loud enough for the brothers to hear, earning a heartfelt laugh from Sam.

"I told you so."

* * *

><p>;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;<p>

After have had dinner, the brothers and Kate made their way to the motel, by walking down the streets. There wasn't a lot of people out there, and they were quiet as Kate glanced at the stores they were passing by. Her hands were deep in her jacket's pockets, trying to keep them as warm as possible. Sam had offered her his warmer jacket but she had refused, telling him that he shouldn't freeze because she hadn't been smart enough to take something warmer with her.

"Where did the eighty-two percent come from?" Dean asked suddenly making Kate and Sam look at him as they all stopped walking. He looked directly at Kate who was nuzzling her scarf.

"What?" Sam asked as she frowned looking at Dean.

"Earlier, you said that eighty-two percent of the population considered that two people sitting next to each other in some place that ain't a fancy restaurant, is a couple. Where did that come from?" Dean asked.

"Don't tell me you've been thinking about it ever since?" Sam asked his brother with arched eyebrows.

"Shut up," Dean told him before turning his attention back at Kate. "So?" The brown head shrugged as she started walking again.

"I made it up," she replied as she kept walking. Dean turned around to look at her as Sam chuckled. Dean snapped his head at his brother with a glaring gaze.

"I'm pretty sure, the real statistic is close to that, though," Sam told him quickly.

"You're… You're close," Dean said trying to find a comeback but only finding a lame one. Sam looked at him with risen eyebrows before they heard a loud noise of things dropping on the ground. Sam glanced to see Kate apologizing to a man as she helped him gather his stuff. He walked towards her, followed close by his big brother.

"I'm so sorry, really," Kate told the man as she gathered the tiny round boxes on the floor and put them in his large cardboard box. "I can be very clumsy sometimes!"

"It's alright. No big deal at all," the man replied as they stood up. Kate looked up at him, ready to hand him the last round box in her hand when she saw his face. She stared at him in shock as she dropped the item in her hand. Sam and Dean approached her, Sam bending down to take the item and handing it to the man. The man looked at Kate, frowning with concern. "Are you okay young lady?"

"Kaitlin?" Dean said as he noticed how her face had turned very pale while staring at the man.

"You're George Parker…" She let out in a breath.

"Hum, yeah, that's me," the old man replied. "Do I know you?"

"You're George Parker…" She repeated as she stared at the man who frowned his gaze. Dean put his arm around her back as he glanced up at the antiquity shop which sign said _A thousand wonders At George Parker's._

"I'm sorry, have we met somewhere?" The old man asked as he stared at her.

"No, no," Dean lied as he looked at the old man. "It's just you're so famous around here, you know! With your… thousand wonders."

"What? I just sell a few trifles," the old man answered.

"And she's a fan of trifles. She's got a lot at home, you should see that!" Dean lied with a grin as Kate never looked away from the old man.

"Huh," the old man just said as he looked up at Sam who gave him a quick polite smile before looking back at Kate. "You take good care of your girl, here." He told Dean before walking away.

"Katie," Sam said as he walked in front of Kate who looked up at him.

"What was that?" Dean asked her and she turned her head to look at the man whose arm was still holding her back.

"You know him back in your world, don't you?" Sam asked her as she turned her head back at him. She looked at him before glancing behind him, her eyes finding the store sign immediately. "Is he family?"

"Can we just go to the nearest bar and get drunk?" She asked in a little voice as her teary eyes met Sam's concerned ones.

* * *

><p>;;;;;;;;;;;<p>

Kate swallowed down her seventh shot in less than a minute before grimacing as she shook her head. She reached for her third beer and took a long sip. Sam and Dean were across her in the booth they were sitting in. They were staring at her, surprised to see she was holding her liquor pretty good. She looked up at them as she finished drinking her beer.

"Maybe, we should order something stronger," Kate told them loudly over the loud noise of their surroundings. There was a lot of people in that bar and the music played was very loud making everybody almost shout to talk with each other.

"Don't you think you got enough?" Sam asked her. She frowned her eyebrows at him and repeated his question louder. She shook her head.

"I need more!" She replied as she stood up and almost fell down. Sam stood up and circled around the booth, to get to her side.

"I think it's enough, Katie," he told her loudly with a gentle voice as he put his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him and shook her head.

"Can you at least tell me what's wrong? Who was that man?" He asked her as Dean looked back and forth at the two of them, trying to hear them over the noise.

"Damn you George Parker! I damn you for always have been this convincing manipulative arrogant bastard!" She shouted and the brothers frowned in confusion. "I damn you for always having the last word, you convincing manipulative arrogant bastard! It was him, Sam!" He looked at her still confused as tears formed in her eyes suddenly. "My father spent hours damning George Parker on his deathbed! I-I miss my father… I miss him, Sam… He's the only one who's ever been there for me! He-he…" Kate started to cry so Sam pulled her into his arms trying to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, Katie," he told her in her ear as she clung harder onto him. "I'm so sorry." Sam glanced at Dean to see him staring thoughtfully at the young woman in his arms.

* * *

><p>;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;<p>

Sam and Dean had decided to leave the bar when Kate had started crying. They had preferred to bring her to the motel room so she could rest in calm, but the moment they walked in the room, the brunette had run to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Not a few seconds later, they heard distinct noises of her throwing up which made them both sigh.

"So, what was all of that about? That George Parker killed her old man?" Dean asked Sam who sat down on the edge of the couch, right next to the bathroom's door.

"No, not really," Sam replied in a low voice before looking at his brother. "He was just the one who introduced him to smoking… Which gave him a lung cancer." Dean glanced at the door as they heard Kate grunt before throwing up again. He let out a long sight before taking the bottle of bourbon he had put on the floor, next to his bed. "You wanna end up like her?"

"What?" Dean asked as he looked up at his brother before unscrewing the bottle.

"With all you've drunk in the bar, if you add this bottle, I'm pretty sure you're gonna end up throwing up with her, in there," Sam told his brother.

"Seeing her cry sobered me enough, to prevent that from happening," Dean replied as he brought the bottle up to his lips and drank a long sip. Sam shook his head and Dean noticed that. "What? Sam, we've talked about it. You know why I need to drink."

"You can't keep drinking, Dean. I know it's hard for you… But you can't keep drinking everytime a memory pops back, you-"

"Wrong," Dean cut him off. "That's when you're wrong, Sam. Those memories they don't pop back, Sam. They don't go and pop back. They're always here. Always. So you should be happy enough, I'm not drinking 24/7."

"Dean, I'm trying to help you-"

"I've already told you, Sam. There's no sweet words or feelings sharing or whatever that can help me," he cut him off again. "All I can do is try to inhibit as much as possible what I'm feeling and what I'm remembering all the time. And I'm sorry but so far, alcohol has been a way better help than your soothing words."

* * *

><p>;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;<p>

"I've been waiting for you," the familiar voice said as Kate turned around and realized she was in the same fancy room than last time.

"I'm dreaming again, aren't I?" She said as the same suited-up angel stood up from a chair and walked to her with a smile.

"You're very perspicacious," he told her sarcastically. And she suddenly frowned as she realized something.

"How is that I couldn't remember this last time? When I woke up I had completely forgotten about that dream," she told him.

"I told you it would be a secret between the two of us," he told her winking at her.

"But, if I can't remember it, how do you want me to do whatever you want me to do?" She asked him.

"Well, you remembered that you had something important to do, right?" He told her with a smile, she just fixed him with an almost dirty look. "It was the job. The moment, the Winchesters will feel like not wanting to do their job, you will remember yours. The moment the Winchesters will feel like giving up, you will remember what I showed you." Zachariah's voice had suddenly become harsher. Kate gulped, remembering the terrible sensation of what Dean had to go through during his time in Hell. "And, if - and I hope that's a big if – if you still don't feel very motivated, I've got forty years of Dean Winchester's memories of Hell to show you and make you feel." His lips suddenly turned into an amused grin. "Chill out, Kate! I know you're the kind to work very hard and well, when you have to!"

"Can you… Can you make Dean forget Hell?" She asked him and he took a step back as he stared at her.

"No," he replied and she looked at him with frowned eyes. "I'm sorry, I can't. Besides, like I said… Motivation," Kate's eyes got a bit round at his words. "There's absolutely nothing better than motivation."

* * *

><p>;;;;;;;;;;;;;<p>

Hearing the motel room's door softly shut, Kate opened her eyes and glanced at it before looking at the two queen size beds. She sighed, frowning her eyebrows as she found Sam's one empty. She couldn't help wonder where he had gone wandering off at three in the morning, without warning them. It had been obvious that he had waited for Kate and his brother to fall asleep. The young woman had only succeeded to sleep thirty minutes after have thrown up all her stomach hours ago. Then, she had just laid down and waited, looking up at the ceiling trying to remember once again what she had dreamed about that felt so important. And she hadn't been able to stop herself from glancing at the brothers once in a while. Dean had been rather quick to fall asleep, and Kate was sure that it was due to the amount of alcohol he had gulped down before they came back to this room and the even huger amount when they came back in this room. As for Sam, she had caught glimpse of him glancing at his brother as if trying to figure out if he was completely knocked out yet or not. He had looked over at her and eventually Kate had given him her back, pretending to fall asleep too. Not even ten minutes later, she had heard movements followed by a few light footsteps. And then, the door shutting softly.

Kate sat up on the couch, letting the yellow extra cover they had found in the little cupboard, drop on her lap. She looked over at the sleeping Winchester as he was snoring very softly. She couldn't help wonder what had happened between them when she had been in the bathroom earlier. Even very worn out after throwing up so much, she had noticed the heavy tension in the room when she walked out of the bathroom. She had immediately remembered that expression her aunt used a lot when she visited her at her mother's. _The tension in here is so thick you can cut it with a knife_.

The young woman stood up and walked slowly to the bathroom, trying to be as quiet as Dean's snores. She closed the door behind her and switched on the light. She walked to the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing one of Sam's shirt again since she had forgotten to put any pj's in her back bag. It was an over-sized shirt that hung down above her mid-thighs. Fortunately, Dean had given her a pair of shorts so that she wasn't too bare in this rather cold night. Kate's eyes focused then on her hair bun. She took off the hair tie and looked at her wavy brown hair that held some curls here and there. She sighed, exasperated. She had always been so tired of her hair. Not wavy enough to say she had cute waves and not curly enough to say she had sexy curls. It was just a mix of nonsense hair.

"Maybe I should buy a hair straightener," she told herself before she looked at her face. "And some concealer," she touched the slight shadows under her eyes. "At least, it looks better than a few days ago." She remembered the deep dark shadows she had under her eyes a few days ago when she spent her whole nights reading about demons at Bobby's.

Suddenly, a sort of loud grunt reached her ears. Frowning, she turned around and opened the door slightly, she hung her head at the slight opening and looked at the room. She looked over at Dean to find him moving around in his bed. She pushed the door open, letting the bathroom light illuminate the dark motel room enough for her to see Dean properly. She walked slowly towards him and noticed how sweaty he was as he was moving around, whining and grunting in pain. She stopped at his bedside.

"Dean," she whispered wanting to wake him up slowly and softly since she had heard a few years ago that waking up someone suddenly was not good at all. "Dean, wake up," she whispered as she reached her hand towards his shoulder. She put her hand gently on his shoulder and shook him gently as she repeated his name. All at once, Dean grabbed her forearm forcefully and pulled her to the bed, pinning her to it as he straddled her while his other hand pulled out the knife he was keeping under his pillow. Kate let out a surprised yelp before she talked to him. "Dean, stop! It's only me!"

"Kaitlin?" Dean said with a confused voice as he looked down at her, holding his knife up ready to hit her in the chest with it.

"Yeah," she let out in a breath. "It's me, Dean." She looked up at him to find him looking at her with eyes that suddenly got big. He dropped the knife on the floor and stared at her. "You were having a bad dream… I just wanted to wake you up from it." He slowly nodded at her as he put his legs off of her and sat down on the side of his bed. She sat up, her eyes glued to him.

"I'm sorry, Kaitlin," he whispered as he rubbed a hand down his face.

"It's okay," she whispered in a soft voice.

"It's not," he told her, his eyes watching the knife on the floor. "I-I tempt to lose control over you a lot, don't I? … Last time and now…" He admitted and Kate could feel the guilt in his voice as she remembered the confession she had over-heard.

"It's okay, Dean, really," she told him with a firm voice, hoping he will believe her words. "I don't blame you, not at all. And I've already forgiven you for what happened last time… And I forgive you for now." Dean turned his head to look at her.

"You shouldn't," he replied. "I don't deserve to be forgiven… Kaitlin, you have no idea of who I really am…"

"You're right," she whispered to him. "I have no idea of who you really are... I've been in this dimension for a couple of weeks, and I still don't know when your birthday is, what your favourite dessert is, what your favourite colour is, or anything like that. But I've heard how people talk about you. How Sam, Bobby and Pamela talk about you. And I've watched you, Dean. You are a _good man_. You act like you're this tough guy but at the end of the day, you are…" She stopped as he turned to look at her.

"I'm what?" He asked her in a whisper and she scanned his face, getting closer to him. She reached her hand to cup his cheek softly and looked into his eyes. He shivered at the touch and couldn't help thinking about Anna and the way she had cupped his cheek too. He closed his eyes and Kate couldn't help stroking his cheek tenderly.

"I have no idea," she whispered taking him aback. He opened his eyes and looked at her with puzzled eyes. "I don't know who you really are, Dean. I don't. All I can say is that…"

"I have to forgive myself for what I've done in Hell?" He told her and she looked at him quietly. "I know you've heard what I said to Sam, Kaitlin. No need to deny. I've heard you snuffling on the backseat and I've seen the way you've been looking at me ever since." Kate's hand started to drop when Dean caught it and held it gently in his. He looked down at her hand that looked so tiny in his, and felt so soft against his calloused fingers.

"If you think, I've been pitying you, Dean. It really isn't-"

"No," he cut her off. "You haven't been pitying me. You've been looking at me the same way you did when I told you I went to Hell…" He told her before looking up at her. "With understanding and… And sincere pain. But I can't… I can't let you do that, Kaitlin."

"Can't let me do what?"

"Help me… Listen to me, and heal me, fix me."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not fair to you," he replied as he let go of her hand and stood up to get the bottle of old bourbon on the nightstand between the two beds.

"What makes you say that?" She asked him as she looked at him unscrewing the bottle and drinking a long sip. "What makes you think that it won't be fair to me to help you?"

"Because you're a _good girl_, Kaitlin," he replied to her as his green eyes stared at her intensively in the dim light. She opened her lips to protest but Dean interrupted her. "And I…"

"And you what?" She asked him as he was looking down, trying to find the only thing that he was sure would keep her as further as possible. He looked up at her, gulped down his saliva and replied in a hard voice.

"And I don't trust you."

* * *

><p><span><strong>;;;;;;;<strong>

**Author's note :**

**So here you go with this new chapter! I've gotta admit, though. It was supposed to be a way shorter chapter, and it was meant to be a simple filler. But in the end I decided to work on it more so it could be better than a simple filler… Especially after I've seen that my last chapter had received only 2 reviews… I've gotta say it worried me. Was it that bad? I would have liked to read what you thought about it even though you found it crappy ! Don't forget that reviews are supposed to be constructive criticism so if some chapters let you puzzled or disappointed, don't hesitate to tell me!**

**Besides, I wanna thank those who keep following and favouriting my story! I suppose if you're doing so, it means you like it, so yeah thank you **** And if you could leave a review to tell me what you thought about this chapter, it will be very appreciated! And of course, thank you to the ones already leaving so many reviews!**

**On another hand, have you guys watched the 200****th**** episode ? I found it just perfect ! It was a so beautiful dedication to all of us :')**

**Ps : thank you again for giving a chance to my story !**

**Take care,**

**A.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note :**

**Thank you very much to all of you for reading my story! And thank you from the bottom of my heart for thsoe sweet reviews of yours ! :)**

* * *

><p>"And I don't trust you."<p>

A sharp outtake of breath slipped from her lips at his words. His words had hit her like a slap; a slap back to reality. She nodded her head slowly as she realized they were back to square one; in fact, remembering Anna's words, he had never left this square one unlike her. _He still doesn't trust you. _He never did.

"You know what? I..." She said before frowning as she let out a sigh and looked up at him. "I don't get you, Dean... One minute you're this sweet cool guy who shows me some kind of trust, and the other you're this annoying asshole who hasn't got any trust in me. And I'm trying to tell myself that you've got your reasons to act this way with me…" She sighed shaking her head as she stood up from his bed. "But you know what? I've had enough of trying."

"Then, you should stop trying," he replied trying to keep his voice hard and stern. "You are only here because we've gotta look after you until we find a solution for your problem."

"You're right," she said in a whisper as she stared at him. "Don't you worry, once we find my flight back home, I'll be completely off your back, Dean. Until then, you better buy more bottles and why not find back that fallen angel you trusted so much more than me or whatever." Turning around, she grabbed her clothes hanging on a chair.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna get changed and just... Leave."

"What? No, you can't do that," he told her as she turned around to look at him.

"Why not? You obviously don't want me here. And I don't even know why I keep trying..." she admitted to him as she held her clothes in her arms.

"I only said-"

"You said what you said. And you did what you did... And it was all pretty clear," she replied as he put his bourbon bottle on the nightstand and walked to her slowly.

"I didn't mean to..." He told her, his voice no longer holding any hardness of sternness of any kind. It wasn't soft either. It just sounded broken and lost, and Kate couldn't help but soften at this even though she was completely fed up with Dean's changing moods.

"I don't get you, Dean..." She whispered.

"I know," he whispered back, approaching her. "I just... I'm not good with this sort of girly talking or any kind of sharing feelings talking thing, you know?"

"It's not that the problem... Why don't you trust me, Dean? What have I ever done to you to make you so mistrusting of me?" She asked him as he was now standing in front of her. She looked up at his face as he looked down at her, shaking his head.

"It's more complicated than you think... I told you, Kaitlin, I'm a mess..." He told her looking straight in her eyes, as his hands took the clothes from her arms. "I'm a fucking mess and after all I've done in Hell... I don't deserve to..." he trailed off, not knowing how to say the things he wanted to say, _needed_ to say. He looked away.

"You don't deserve to be comforted?" She asked him and he licked his lips before swallowing and nodding his head. Kate couldn't help her natural maternal instinct that was always deep inside every women. It forced her to be softer and more patient with Dean; and that wasn't something casual considering how impatient she could truly be most of the times. But, the way that Dean talked to her, the way he kept pushing her away just made her want to reach out for him even more.

"A monster like me shouldn't be comforted," he whispered and Kate put her hands on his cheeks as she made him look down at her.

"You are not a monster, Dean," she told him firmly. "That's one thing I'm more than sure about you, Dean. You are not a monster."

"I've tortured souls in Hell, Kaitlin... I've done things you could never imagine. I am a monster... And... And you are just a good girl. No monster deserves a good girl to comfort them," he told her and she felt tears forming in her eyes. She could feel the sincerity of his sayings. She could feel how hard he believed in his words. And it hurt her. It hurt her to know that a man who did so much good in his lifetime thought he was a monster because he hadn't been able to endure more of the tortures he had been inflicted for years in Hell. Sure, he had given in, and had started inflicting those tortures to other souls. Sure, he hadn't been strong enough to endure more years of torture. But that didn't mean he was a monster. It just made him even more human.

"You're not a monster, Dean, and I'm not trying to comfort you," she whispered to him gently. "All I'm trying to do, is make you understand that you are not alone." Dean immediately remembered Anna's words._ When you can, you have people that want to help. You are not alone. That's all I'm trying to say. _Kate let go of his cheeks and took a step back, glancing at her clothes in his hands. She grabbed them and he didn't move when she started to walk with them towards the couch.

"Where are you gonna go?" He asked her and she bit on her bottom lip as she just turned her head, putting her clothes down on the couch.

"I'm not gonna go anywhere," she replied. Noticing his eyes fill with a wave of relief, she gave him a soft smile.

She walked to the bathroom doorway, and switched off the light. When she turned around, Dean walked to switch on the lamp on the nightstand and sat down on his bed. She stared at him in silence. He was staring at the window curtains just across of him. His hand reached out for the bourbon bottle on the nightstand, unscrewed it slowly, and then brought it to his lips to take a long sip. Kate couldn't help the tear that slowly fell down her cheek. She hated not being able to help someone in need of a hand to hold. But how do you help someone who doesn't want your help? How do you help someone who keeps saying they don't trust you? How do you help someone who has been through Hell literally?

Letting her instinct take full control of her, she slowly walked to him, squatted down in front of him and put her hand on his bottle; just above his hand. Looking down at her, he immediately caught her soft gaze. He frowned when he noticed the tears filling her eyes, and the one that already stroked her cheek. He let her take the bottle and put it aside. She stood up and he studied her every move, all very soft and delicate. She sat at his left on the bed, and he turned his upper body, his gaze never looking away from her. She was still a mystery for him. Sam had told him a bit about her, but not that much, and he hadn't had the chance to get to know her that much. She was a whole mystery and he was more than intrigued by her and her tenacity to help him. However, what intrigued him more was the way she made him feel. She gave him a feeling of comfort, relief and peace of mind that he had never felt before.

Perplexed and not having a single clue of what she was doing and not wanting to ask her, Dean just stared at her in silence. For once, ever since he came back from Hell, the silence was comfortable and it wasn't broken by any bad memories. All of sudden, she wrapped her arms around him. Surprised, he didn't move at all and let her do. He felt her hands rubbing up and down his back. He tried turning his head slightly to look at her face as he could feel her chin resting on his shoulder, but her wild brown hair prevented him from seeing anything. He started to relax and slowly let his arms wrap around her as he hugged her back. She tightened her hold around him, one of her hands clinging into his shirt.

"You can let it go," she whispered so softly and so quietly that Dean wasn't sure if she had really said those words. However, it didn't bother him that much. All he did was tighten his hold around her and shutting his eyes close as he breathed her smell and accepted that sense of comfort, relief and peace of mind that she gave him. And, he did it as he held her tighter. He let it all go.

* * *

><p>The next day, the Winchester brothers had gotten a call from Bobby telling them he was back at his house and he was expecting them for the early afternoon. That morning, Kate had felt a bit of awkwardness when waking up in Dean's arms. As soon as he had seen her eyes opening, he had opened his lips to say something when Sam had made his entrance in the room. The brothers had looked at each other and had started a rather serious countering about how Sam had gone wandering on his own without warning any of them. Kate decided that this very moment was the best to sneak in the bathroom and take her whole time there until they were done. She didn't want to interfere between them, truth be told she didn't think she had any right to do so anyway.<p>

Once on the road, Sam's gaze glued to her the whole time as if a bit amused by something. And Kate was damn sure it was the fact that he had caught them sharing the same bed. She could swear that he had been holding back a lot of teasing comments, because whenever her gaze had crossed his, she had seen him hold back a chuckle before looking away or shaking his head. As expected, Dean had acted as if nothing had ever Dean had mentioned was the fact that Sam had gone wandering off in the middle of the night without warning him. However, it had made the whole trip to Sioux Falls very awkward. Thus, to break the light tension in the air, Dean had decided to put on some music.

Kate had been surprised to find out he had a passionate love for classic rock, and the brothers had been even more surprised to hear her humming along. She had told them that her whole childhood was filled with this kind of music because her father was a big fan. Sam had chuckled saying their father too. When Dean had started saying that she had a good taste in music, she had told him that she loved some rap and country songs too which had made grimaced Dean. She had explained how she hadn't had any real musical style preference, whenever a song pleased her, she just liked it, and Sam had told her he thought that way too. Their conversation had then turned into a sort of questions and answers game. Kate would ask them if a particular singer or song existed in their universe and they would answer. It had made her realize that this universe, as different as it was from hers, still had the same musical universe.

Once they reached Bobby's salvage yard, they found the old man near the garage making his way towards his house. Getting out of the backseat, Kate walked with a smile towards Bobby who smiled back as he looked at her. He wouldn't say it, but he had missed that girl a bit those couple of days, and truth be told, he had been worried about her. When she approached him, Bobby was surprised to have her wrap her arms around him. And he realized, that this girl must have missed him just as much as he did. He hugged her back as he looked at the brothers walking towards them.

"The boys have been good to you?" He asked her as they pulled apart.

"Not bad," she replied shrugging with a smile.

"Not bad? We've treated you like a princess," Dean replied as he and his brother walked to them. Bobby chuckled.

"Not really like a princess," Sam said as he arrived while Dean and Bobby quickly hugged. He bent to give a quick hug to the old man as well before adding. "But still, we behaved."

"Got any news about Anna?" Bobby asked them after a second.

"No," Sam replied shaking his head while they all glanced at Dean whose face looked wistful.

"Let's get inside, I got some beers," Bobby said after taking note of Dean's facial expression. "Besides, I got some news for you, Katie."

* * *

><p>"So, this professor Eleanor Visyak is really just a friend of yours, Bobby?" Dean asked in a teasing tone from his chair next to the kitchen's doorway.<p>

"That's all you've caught hold of?" Bobby told Dean almost grumpily as he straightened from his leaning position against his desk. Dean tilted his head as he pursed his lips.

The four of them were sitting in Bobby's living room, drinking a beer as Bobby had just finished telling them that Rufus and he had done a real purchase of information for Kate's situation while they were busy with Anna Milton's case. And the answers he and Rufus got out of that professor of Medieval Studies at San Francisco University, were pretty big.

"So, if I got it right," Kate started from the couch where she was sitting next to Sam. "This professor Visyak, she told you there is a spell to travel from a dimension to another. But we gotta know when exactly to use it?"

"Yeah," Bobby replied. "It's an important timing. You can't just travel through dimensions as you wish."

"Which explains why the Cleaner told me the doors were locked," she said making him nod.

"So, basically all we need is dead sea brine, lamb's blood and the bones of a lesser saint, to draw a sigil. And that's it?" Sam said as he looked at Bobby who grimaced.

"It's more complicated than that," Bobby replied. "Like I said, this spell works if you know when the right moment is, when the doors are opened. And even that ain't the hardest part to figure out. Because, we gotta know from which universe exactly you come from, Kate."

"What? So there really is more than one dimension or universe or whatever you call it, out there? Dean asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the old man.

"There's a theory called the multiverse," Kate started with a thoughtful expression as she tried to remember it. They all looked at her while she stared at the coffee table in front of her. "It's a theory in which we consider that the universe we live in, is not the only one. And that many universes exist parallel to each other. I guess the books we studied and what that professor told you, confirm that theory," she said before licking her lips and biting down on her bottom lip as her thoughtful expression intensified a bit. "However those parallel universes are filled with differences, tinier or bigger ones... Which I guess kinda refute the parallelism since parallelism means exactly the same..." She looked up to find the three hunters staring at her with impressed expressions. "What?"

"How do you even know all of that?" Sam asked her.

"College," she replied glancing at him and his brother who were looking at her with an impressed. "Don't look so impressed, I haven't even passed that discipline well," she told Sam. "Anyway," she said turning her attention to Bobby. "It means I've still got two big obstacles to get back to my universe."

"Yeah," Bobby replied as he grabbed his beer. "We've gotta find out the exact second you need to travel back, and we've gotta find how to know if the landing will be in the right universe."

"Otherwise, I might just end up in another universe where you guys are all just aliens like in Doctor Who," she chuckled "Or worse, where you guys are actors playing on a fantasy television series."

"Yeah, good luck to find a universe where we're actors," Dean scoffed as he drank a sip of his beer. After a short silence, Sam turned to Kate and asked her genuinely curious.

"What's Doctor Who?"

"You did not just ask that," she said in a low voice as she turned her head to look at him with shock.

* * *

><p><em><strong>One week later.<strong>_

_**South of Dakota, Sioux Falls. At Bobby Singer's.**_

Kate walked downstairs in her pajamas that included the pair of shorts that she hadn't returned to Dean ever since they had dropped her off here and left in the evening of that same day, and a simple black tank top. She yawned and scratched her head through her wild curly wavy hair. She had wanted to get in the bathroom upstairs but she had found it locked and had heard the shower running. It had surprised her since Bobby always took his showers in the bathroom of the first floor. Shrugging it off, she had decided to cook some breakfast first.

She had spent a very eventful week. Between an intense research on how to overcome the two obstacles left to make her way back home possible, and a few visits of Rufus which made her meet him properly, and also her many two-way trips to Pamela's, Kate hadn't been able to rest as much as she had planned to. Besides, whenever she woke up from her short sleep, she felt like she was forgetting something very important and it frustrated her for hours, especially since she usually remembers very well her dreams.

When she reached the end of the staircase, she turned to the living room and stopped in track when she saw a blond man tied down to a chair in the middle of the room.

"What the hell?" She whispered as she frowned. The man turned his head to look at her. His face was sweaty –or was it wet- and the moment his eyes landed on her, a mixed expression of surprise and lust appeared all over his face.

"I didn't know this old drunk had such a pretty thing like you here," he said with a devilish smirk.

"Who- _what_ are you?" She asked making him throw his head back and laugh. She looked down then up at the ceiling to see that there was a devil's trap drawn there. She looked at him with a stern expression. "You're a demon."

"You're not just a pretty face, I love it," he told her as he looked at her. His eyes travelled up and down her body and it made her feel very exposed. She crossed her arms over her chest and stomach. "You're all shinning," Kate was sure that he was talking about her soul. "Ooh the things I'd like to do to you… And to make you do," he gave her a grin that sent shivers all over her body.

"What are you doing here?" Bobby's voice said making her turn around to face the old man with a large box in his arms. Apparently, he had come from the basement since the basement door was opened.

"I wanted to cook us some breakfast," she replied before glancing at the blond man tied up to the chair. "I wasn't expecting some extra guest like this one. You didn't warn me, Bobby." He motioned her to follow him in the hallway out of the demon' sight.

"Oh come on, where are you going?" The demon whined loudly when they walked out of his sight.

"I wasn't planning on you waking up so early," he told her in almost a whisper as he turned around to look at her.

"Neither was I. But my hunger woke me up, I guess," she replied in a whisper before tilting her head towards the living room. "Why is there a demon in here, Bobby?"

"He works for Lilith," he whispered back.

"Oh!" She exclaimed with big round eyes.

"Yeah, oh," he said nodding his head. "I got a hunter to get him here while you were asleep." Kate nodded before glancing down at the opened box to see there were a few strange tools in there.

"You're gonna torture him?" Kate asked in a whisper as she looked up at the old man.

"No, I'm gonna give him a beer and ask him if he can tell me where to find Lilith, and if he doesn't I'll just drive him back home," he replied sarcastically.

"No need to be so grumpy," Kate told him as she gave a slight pout, before she asked him more seriously. "Do you need my... Hum my help?"

"You're kidding me?!" He exclaimed. "I don't want you any way close to that demon, you hear me?" She nodded her head and he sighed. "Maybe you should go to Pamela's while I'm taking care of this demon."

"That's one thing for you to ask me not to get close to that demon, but that's another to ask me to leave on your own in here with that demon," she replied and he opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off. "I'm not leaving you here alone with a demon. And I don't care if you've been doing this your whole life, it won't reassure me that you'll be completely fine on your own." Bobby stared at her a bit taken aback by her little speech. She stared back at him with a stern face, hoping he will give in.

"You don't talk to him or even listen to him, you hear me? You completely ignore him. Actually, you don't go near the living room if it's not necessary, alright?" He told her and she nodded frantically. And he shook his head as he exhaled a long sigh before walking to the living room.

* * *

><p>"What are you doing sitting here all alone, kiddo?" Kate looked up to see the old black hunter with a moustache.<p>

"I didn't hear you coming, Rufus," she told him as he sat down next to her, on the hood of an old car. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a large sweatshirt, and had a long scarf around her neck. Her hands were between her thighs, trying to keep them warm as much as possible.

"Well, I just did," he replied. "Told Bobby I'd be here tonight but I decided to come before the end of the afternoon." He looked at her. "You're okay?"

"Yeah," she replied as she kept her gaze glued to the pile of dozen cars in front of her. "It's just… It started to become a bit too much in there," she admitted and Rufus glanced behind him at Bobby's house.

"Yeah, a demon can always be a real pain in the ass," he said as he looked down at her. "You shouldn't let it affect you."

"It didn't affect me," she replied as she looked up at him. "I just… I can't help wondering where God is in all of that."

"Welcome aboard," he told her sighing.

"The demon… He said things about Bobby…" She told him after a moment of silence. He rose his eyebrows as he looked down at her. "About his wife… How she died…"

"I see," he said nodding his head. "What you need to understand, Kate, is that we all got our fair share of dark secrets that we're not very proud of, or that we'd like to forget sometimes. So if that old Bobby didn't tell you about it, he's got his reasons. He's still the same old man you learned to know, though."

"I know," she nodded her head slowly. "It's just… Sam and Dean lost their parents because of some demon, Bobby lost his wife because of another demon… I can't even imagine how many other's life has been ruined because of those creatures… And I feel so bad because I can't stop wondering, where's God in all that?" She looked up at him and he stared at her in silence.

* * *

><p>When Rufus and Kate walked in Bobby's house by the backdoor leading to the kitchen directly, they were immediately met by a flying chair. Rufus pulled Kate to him, preventing her from being hit by the chair on the face. The demon was standing up in the middle of the living room, his eyes fell on Kate and he gave a smirk as he made a step towards her when Bobby suddenly splashed a flask of water on his back. The demon cringed as he turned around and back-handed Bobby so strongly that he flew to his desk and landed on the floor behind it.<p>

"Bobby!" Kate shouted as she made a step towards him but Rufus held her back.

"Get out of here!" Rufus told her as he pulled out a gun and he pulled out a large gun and fired at the demon who arched. But, Kate couldn't leave those two men behind. She looked at the demon as he held his chest, groaning. "Bullets full of salt, you bastard!" The demon looked up and kept walking towards Rufus in spite of the bullets he was receiving. Kate did what she knew best. She started reciting the exorcism chant as the demon arrived right in front of her. He backhanded her and she fell to the floor right in front of the fridge. Rufus hit the demon with his gun but the demon turned and punched him before grabbing him and throwing him away in the living room. He turned to Kate who looked up at him. The demon knelt down and put his hand on Kate's lips, preventing her from reciting more of that exorcism chant. She was going to throw a punch at him with her right hand when he caught her fist before it collided on his face. He smirked at her as he gripped her wrist and twisted it. She screamed in pain against his palm as she tried to fight back but he managed to straddle her.

"Oh honey, stop fighting back," he told her as he pinned her on the floor and kept twisting her wrist painfully. She knew if he added more pressure, he would break it. "The moment I saw you, I've been wanting to do so many things to you… What are you? I've never seen a human like you..." Kate kept trying to fight back as he leaned down and licked up her cheek before leaning to her ear. "I don't know what I wanna do most… Play with you or wear you?" She tried to scream against his palm but it all went out as a muffled sound. All of sudden, Kate stopped fighting back and screaming against the demon's palm. She looked up at him, her eyes met his pitch black ones. It was scary to see but she held the eye contact as she remembered what that demon had said. How Bobby had to look into his wife's eyes and kill her; how her eyes were no longer their normal colour but they were this pitch black. She shouldn't be scared of demons, she should just hate them. "No fighting back anymore? Maybe you'd like to play with me, too, huh? Say it," he said to her as he pulled his hand away from her lips. Taking a deep breath, she prayed for God to help her talk as fast as possible.

"Exorcizamus te omnis immundus-" He gripped her wrist violently and slapped it on the floor sharply which made her moan in pain.

"You bitch!" He groaned as he went to put his hand back against her mouth but she bit it, and managed to kick him off her.

"Spiritus omnis satanica pote-" She started to say as she tried to crawl as much away from him as possible but he took hold of her ankle and pulled her back to him. She turned her face and kicked his face with her other foot. She grabbed the only thing at her reach which was actually the broom and hit him with it. "Potestas omnis incursio infernalis," she said through her heavy breaths before the demon launched at her and brought his hands around her neck to strangle her.

"You fucking bitch, I'm gonna make you regret doing all of that!" He told her when suddenly she heard Rufus saying the rest of the exorcism spell.

"Adversii omnis congregatio secta diabolica ergo," Rufus was saying when the demon started to shake, as his hands left Kate's neck. Suddenly, a giant dark smoke left his mouth and made its way to the open windows. The body of the unconscious blond man fell on Kate. Rufus walked to Kate who pushed the unconscious body off her. "You're okay?" He asked her as she sat up trying to catch her breath back, nodding her head. She looked at the body and Rufus put two fingers on the neck's body trying to find the pulse. "I bet he was dead a long time ago." Kate looked up at Rufus as he pulled his hand out to help her up.

"I suppose he ran away?" She told him and he nodded. All of sudden, she remembered about Bobby. "Bobby!" She shouted before standing up and running to the old man who had fallen behind his desk. Rufus was quickly behind her. "Bobby?" She said as she knelt down by his side and gently cupped his face. "Bobby, can you hear me?" The old man opened his eyes and she sighed in relief.

"Katie?" He said frowning his eyebrows as he tried to sit up.

"Take it easy, fella," Rufus said making the old man look up at his friend.

"The demon…" Bobby started.

"He ran away," Rufus told him.

"Never mind the demon," Kate cut them off. "How are you feeling? It was a pretty big flight he did to you."

"I'm fine, Kate," he replied as he stood up and she helped him. Once he was on his feet, he arched his back and made it snap. "Damn, I almost got him to talk!"

"How did he even escape the devil trap?" Kate asked him.

"I have no idea," Bobby murmured as they walked to where the demon was taped down. They looked up and noticed that the devil trap had a pretty long arc of circle completely erased. "What the hell…"

* * *

><p>Kate put down the big plate as she finished serving Rufus, Bobby and herself a good portion of the traditional pasta she had done. She sat down right when Rufus put a mouthful of the pasta in his mouth.<p>

"Damn, that's good!" He told her and she smiled at him as she rubbed her bruised wrist.

"Thank you," she replied as Bobby started eating too and nodded. "That's one of the very few things I can cook without make it inedible. And we're lucky I haven't burned off the sauce this time."

"Well, you did great tonight kiddo!" Bobby told her after chuckling when he remembered when a few days ago she had burned off the sauce.

"Thanks," she said as she took a fork full of pasta and started eating as well.

"Actually, I think you've done great the whole time," Rufus said staring at her. "And you know what I think? I think you'd make a good hunter."

"Excuse me?" Bobby said as he glared at Rufus.

"What? You got dirt in your ears and eyes, Singer? You've heard me and you've seen what she's been doing the whole time here! And I ain't talking about what she's done before I even got to meet her," Rufus said to Bobby.

"Yeah, well it doesn't mean you should tell her this," Bobby told him and Kate looked back and forth at the old men while chewing silently on her food. She had learned very quickly that an argument between Bobby and Rufus was more complicated than an argument between Sam and Dean. And, it convinced her even more not to get involved.

"Why not? All I'm saying is that she's good at research, she knows how to fight and she obviously knows how to take care of a demon," he replied before turning his head to Kate. "You'd be a hell of a hunter, kiddo."

"Thanks, I guess?" She replied as she noticed Bobby send her a glare. "What?" She whispered with rose eyebrows. Bobby shook his head as he put his focus back on his plate.

"I was thinking-" Rufus said after a couple of minutes of silence only filled with their chewing sounds.

"Oh really?" Bobby interrupted him sarcastically, earning a glare from the black hunter across him.

"And I thought maybe it's time for you to train up a little bit," Rufus said as he looked at Kate.

"Train?" Both Kate and Bobby said in the same time.

"Yeah, train. I mean, I saw you, you can defend yourself but with a little more training, you'll be able to kick ass like no one else!" He told her with a smile.

"She doesn't need to train," Bobby grumbled.

"Why so?" Rufus asked as Kate looked at Bobby.

"Because she needs to focus on her way back home," Bobby replied as he looked right into Rufus' eyes, before he stood up.

"Bobby," Rufus started slowly as he stood up. Kate looked at Bobby who had stopped in the kitchen's doorway. "The demon almost killed her, today. If she's gonna stay here until you find her way back home, she needs to know how to defend herself properly... Otherwise, someday it will be like in Omaha," Bobby turned around and stared at Rufus as Kate looked back and forth at them, wondering what had happened in Omaha. Bobby glanced at Kate for a second before his gaze returned on Rufus.

"She would be more in danger, if I let her get in-" Bobby started.

"You stop!" Kate exclaimed as she stood up. "You two, you just stop talking as if I'm not here," she looked back and forth at the two men, before focusing her brown eyes on Bobby. She took a few steps towards him and he looked down when she approached him. "Bobby, I have no idea what happened in Omaha, but what I know is that I can't just stand around doing nothing," she told him in a gentle tone making him look at her.

"If I let you into this world, there's no turning back," he told her. "It's not a pretty world… You haven't seen one ten of it."

"I've seen enough," she told him before giving him a little smile. "Hey, it doesn't mean I'm gonna be a full hunter. I'm not into that, trust me. I could never be a hunter, anyway. But I think Rufus is right, I need to know how to defend myself the best. It will give me more chances to survive in this world until I can get back to my universe."

"Or it will give you more chances to die before you even got the chance to get back there," he said before he sighed as he looked down at her before he looked up at Rufus and sighed as he nodded his head slightly.

* * *

><p><em><strong>One week later.<strong>_

_**On a country side road.**_

It was almost four in the morning, and unlike his little brother who had fallen asleep almost immediately after they had finished their hunt a couple of hours ago, Dean was still wide awake. He had parked his Baby on the side of a country road, Sam fast asleep on the backseat. After a short while, he had realized he wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon, so he had decided to keep his mind busy. He had started by skimming through his father's journal, but it hadn't help. He had started reading one of the books Bobby had given him two weeks ago, but this later action only made him think more about the brunette he had tried so hard to not think about. Dean had decided then to start studying some papers, hoping to find a case that will get his mind off the young woman and off the other things he didn't want to think about.

What bothered Dean the most was that whenever he wasn't tormented by flashes of Hell, it was this impossible brown-head that overran his whole mind. As he flipped the papers pages, he couldn't stop thinking about their last night together before he and Sam drove her to Bobby's. She had given him what he had needed the most, but wouldn't ever dare saying aloud. He wanted to stop thinking about her and the way she had, once again, succeeded to take a bit of his pain away. Plus, this time she hadn't even really said anything; she had just held him tight and he had melted in her hug. He had let her comfort him even though he knew he didn't deserve any of it.

"What are you doing?" Sam's voice suddenly said making all of his thoughts vanish.

"What's it look like I'm doing?" Dean asked him trying to recompose himself as he focused back on the papers.

"Like you're looking for a job," Sam replied.

"Yahtzee," Dean said making Sam sit up on the backseat.

"We just finished a job like two hours ago."

"Adrenaline's still pumping, I guess," Dean replied.

"You're sure this ain't because of what happened with Kate last time?" Sam asked him.

"What happened with her?" Dean asked trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"You know," Sam started. "When I got back to the room, you guys were cuddling-"

"I don't do cuddling," Dean cut him off. "She... She had fallen asleep and I didn't want to wake her up by moving away."

"And how did you end up in this position for starters already?" Sam asked him in an almost teasing tone.

"You would have known if you hadn't gone out wandering at four in the morning," Dean replied before turning his head to look at his brother. "Where were you already?" Sam glared at him.

"I told you, I wanted to eat something," he replied in an annoyed tone.

"Huh," Dean just said before turning his attention back to the papers in his hands. "So, what do you think… Cedar Rapids, Tulsa, or Chi-Town?"

"Look, Dean, I am all for working. I really am. But you got us chasing cases nonstop for like a month now-"

"Two weeks, man. Not a month," Dean corrected him making Sam roll his eyes.

"What I'm trying to say is that we need sleep."

"Yeah, we can sleep when we're dead," Dean replied.

"You're exhausted, Dean," Sam told him.

"I'm good."

"No, you're not. You're running on fumes, and you can't run forever," Sam told him hoping he would understand how unhealthy it was for him to do so.

"And what am I running from?"

"From what you told me. Or are we pretending that never happened?" Sam replied.

"Stratton, Nebraska. Farm town. A man gets hacked to death in a locked room inside a locked house. No signs of forced entry," Dean said making him understand that they were, in fact, pretending that never happened.

"Sounds like a ghost," Sam decided to give up and gave his brother the reply he wanted to hear.

"Yes, it does," Dean said making Sam sigh before flopping back down.

"Why don't we just pass by Bobby for a couple of days?" Sam asked.

"And leave that ghost do more damages?" Dean asked him in a scoff.

"Another hunter will certainly go there," Sam told him. "We could even call one ourselves."

"Yeah, and let them all think the Winchesters got rusty. No thanks," Dean scoffed. "Besides, Bobby asked we leave him alone for a couple of weeks."

"It's been a couple of weeks, Dean."

"Yeah, well I guess he's got a lot to do."

* * *

><p>"Kate!" Bobby shouted as he looked down at the pieces of his bottle of beer on the ground.<p>

"I'm sorry!" She shouted back as the old man walked towards her. He had been trying to teach her how to fire with a gun for a couple of hours now but she had only managed to fire everywhere but at the targets he had settled. At first, he had thought the distance was the reason of her missing, but she was now standing just five feet away from the targets and still she managed to hit his bottle of beer instead.

"You need to be more focused," he told her as he approached her.

"I am focused," she replied as she put her arms down. "It's just impossible to hit that target!" Suddenly, they heard a gunshot and the target Bobby had settled was hit.

"I wouldn't say impossible is the right word," a voice said when Kate turned around. A rather tall young man with dark brown hair was standing there with a gun in his hand.

"Don't tell me Rufus sent you," Bobby grumbled as the man walked towards them.

"Always so welcoming, Bobby," the man said as he approached them. He pulled his hand out and Bobby shook it. Kate stared at the rather good-looking young man with grey eyes. "And you must be Kate."

"Yeah, that's me," Kate said as he pulled his hand out and she put her gun in her other hand to shake his hand.

"I'm Matthew, but please call me Matt," he told her in an almost seductive voice. Kate wasn't the kind to blush easily but at this right moment she did.

"I can't believe Rufus thought you'd be the best to help her," Bobby sighed.

"To help me?" Kate said as she looked at Bobby before looking up at Matt who was as tall as Dean.

"Yeah, I'm the one who's gonna show you the tricks of the job," Matt said as he smiled at her.

"No, not the tricks of the job," Bobby said shaking his head. "Just how not to get killed, and how to shoot."

"Of course, sir. Rufus told me you were very protective of your niece," Matt said staring at the old man. Kate frowned her eyebrows and looked at Bobby. _Niece?_

"Yeah," Bobby replied. "She's in my care and I don't want anything wrong happening to her until she gets back home, am I clear?" Kate bit on her bottom lip as she stared at the old man understanding that Rufus and Bobby hadn't said a word about her situation to that young man.

"She's in good hands, you can chill out," the grey-eyed man replied when suddenly Bobby's cellphone rang in his pocket. He walked away as he answered the call. Matt turned to look at Kate. "It doesn't seem like but your uncle is a big fan of me, really," he told her and she chuckled.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Two days later.<strong>_

_**South Dakota, Sioux Falls. At Bobby Singer's.**_

Lately, Kate had developed a new routine that was consisted of waking up very early and sleeping pretty late. Every morning, she would join Matt who was staying at Bobby's for now, and they would work out and have some shooting lessons. He had noticed how good at fighting she was, and how lame at doing crunches she was. The worse was the shooting lessons. She had never succeeded to hit a target and Matt had realized it was because she would either jump or close her eyes whenever she would pull the trigger and fire. Then, at noon they would have lunch and the rest of the afternoon, she would do research about all the other creatures of this universe and in two days she had already learned everything about werewolves, wendigo and vampires. She had started writing a journal about those creatures, their origins and how to kill them which Bobby had noticed but hadn't commented at all. And then, Matt would make her have a three hours session of fighting before the night fell. After dinner, she would try to do more research about her problem but it was sort of impossible with Matt always by her side. In the end, she would give up and he would tell her his hunting stories.

It was past one in the morning when Kate decided to go upstairs to her bed, leaving Matt to watch television on his own while Bobby had already gone to bed a few minutes ago. She closed the door behind her and started to take her clothes off as she walked towards the headboard of her bed where her pajamas was. She grabbed the tank top and put it on before reaching for Dean's shorts when her phone suddenly rang. She turned around and grabbed the denim pants she was wearing a minute ago. She pulled her phone out of the pocket and looked at the screen. She frowned. Usually, they would call Bobby and she would get news from them through him. She hadn't heard their voices for a bit longer than two weeks.

"Hello?" She replied in a soft whisper.

"Katie? I'm sorry, am I waking you up?" He asked her in a whisper.

"No, not all Sam," she replied as she put down Dean's shorts and decided to sleep in only her tank top and her underwear. She slid under her covers.

"Sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," she replied softly. "I just got in my room and I was going to read a book anyway," she lied. She knew that when someone called this late, something was bothering them. "You're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," he replied, his voice not sounding sure at all.

"It's the first time we've talked ever since you and Dean left me at Bobby's. I'm pretty sure if you called for a casual catch up you would have done it days ago and not that late in the night," she told him. "So tell me what's wrong?"

"You're pretty good at reading people even through the phone," he told her with a light chuckle.

"I'm just that good," she replied with a little smile. "But no changing subjects. Speak to me, Winchester."

"I don't know… It's just this case we just finished with Dean… It was pretty intense," he told her.

"What was it?"

"We thought it was a simple ghost case," he replied before sighing. "But it turned out to be more terrible… A man had his daughter pregnant and he had hidden his daughter and well, things went awfully. The kids she had from him, they kinda lived in the walls like… Like animals. And it was all so messed-up…"

"They were humans, originally I mean?" She asked feeling something she couldn't EVEN describe after he told her this.

"Barely. Everything they had to go through literally messed them up… Even physically, they were barely human because of all the things lacking while growing up." Sam replied.

"That's terrible," Kate let out in a breath as she tried to imagine what they had faced.

"Dean took it pretty personally and badly," he told her in a whisper.

"What do you mean?"

"Dean told me you know about Hell," he told her and she bit her lips together.

"Yeah, I do… I overheard you when he told you, the other day after Anna got her grace back," she explained.

"Did… Did he tell you more?" He asked her.

"No," she replied as she closed her eyes and remembered that night. "No, just that it messed him up.

"He… Katie, he enjoyed it," Sam let out in a shaky breath. Kate frowned her eyebrows as she sat up. "He told me he enjoyed it…"

"I'm sure he didn't mean it-"

"He did," Sam cut her off. "He enjoyed it because he wasn't the one suffering anymore… He told me this and I just… I didn't even know what to answer."

"Sam, it doesn't mean he really enjoyed it. Everything is twisted up in Hell, and all that he must have felt when he wasn't the one suffering, was relief," she told him trying to find a good explanation.

"What if he really enjoyed it, Kate?" He told her and she bit on her lips as her eyes fell to Dean's shorts on the end of her bed. "What am I supposed to do? How can I help him?"

"Just be there for him," she replied in a little voice. "Show him you're there for him, no matter what."

* * *

><p><em><strong>One week later.<strong>_

_**Iowa.**_

It was pretty late, but Sam hadn't finished working on his laptop. He was sitting at a table, in his motel room while his brother had gone out to find out something about the case they were on. They were at the international association of Magicians in Iowa, where a few strange murders had happened. He glanced at his phone, hesitating to call her. He had been talking to her on the phone every single day ever since that night he had called her. He felt very comfortable talking to her but what he loved the most was the fact that their conversations could easily turn to something completely ordinary. For instance, a couple of days ago while Dean was out getting drunk in a bar, they had talked about the Harry Potter books and he had liked the way she had been very surprised to find out he was a big fan. Last night, he had texted her about their hunts and she had told him that at Bobby's she was going through a lot, but she had never told him what exactly she was doing at Bobby's. She had told him that she was only doing some research but he was sure there was something else. He took his phone to call her when it suddenly rang in between his fingers. Her name flashed on the screen which made him smile.

"Hey, I was going to call you," he replied.

"Really? Guess I'm really faster than you," she said making him chuckle.

"How are you doing, Katie?"

"Pretty good," she replied. "What about you and Dean?"

"We're good," he said nodding his head as he leaned against his chair.

"I bet he's out right now, too, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is," he told her as he looked at his laptop. "We're still working on that weird case."

"And he still doesn't wanna talk to me," she said which made him stand up.

"It's not that he doesn't wanna talk to you," he told her as he walked to the beds.

"Is that weird if I tell you I feel like you're cheating on him when you don't tell him you're talking to me?" She asked him and he laughed.

"That's weird indeed," he replied as he sat down on the edge of a bed. Suddenly he heard some sort of shouting coming from Kate's background. "What's happening there?

"Nothing," Kate sighed before he heard her groan. "It's just some kind of parasite that won't let go of me!"

"What?" Sam asked frowning his eyebrows. '_Come on, Kate, time to work your ass out!_**'**

"I've gotta hang up! I'll talk to you later, be safe Sam!" She said hanging up leaving him confused as he stared down at his phone. Sam was pretty sure it wasn't Bobby's voice that talked on the background, but he had no idea who that was.

Suddenly a knock at the door pulled him out of his thoughts. He walked to the door and peered through the peephole. He sighed opening the door to reveal another brunette he knew, her arms folded.

"What are you doing here, Ruby?" He asked her.

"I should be asking you the same thing," she replied before stepping in the room.

"I'm working a job," he told her and she looked at him.

"The whole world's about to be engulfed in hellfire, and you're in Magictown, USA," she said making him let out a little laugh.

"You got something against magic?" He asked loving the irony of her reaction.

"That would almost be funny if thirty-four seals hadn't been broken already," she replied "Thirty-four, Sam. That's over halfway. The angels are losing this war. Every day is one day closer, and if someone doesn't do something soon-"

"And that someone is me?" He cut her off.

"Who else would it be?"

"I don't know where these seals are. I don't know squat. So why don't you tell me where you'd like me to start?"

"Well, you can quit dicking around here, for one. Bigger fish, Sam. And if the seals are being broken, you might want to go after the one doing the breaking," she explained to him.

"Lilith?"

"Cut the head off the snake. You're the only one who can stop her, Sam. So step up and kill the little bitch."

"Oh, I'm game, believe me. It's not the psychic thing I got a problem with," he replied.

"Yeah, I know what you got a problem with, but tough. It's the only way," she said to him.

"No."

"You know, this would all be so much easier if you'd just admit to yourself that you like it. That feeling that it gives you," she told him with a little smirk.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh I don't, huh? Fine," she said as she made her way to the door but turned around to tell him more. "It's simple. Lucifer rises, the apocalypse starts. You think that you have demons on your hands now? People are gonna die, Sam. Oceans of people. So you just let me know when you're ready," she walked turned the door handle, and stepped out before turning around. "Oh and I almost forgot, you better tell the pretty Katie to get herself some stronger protections."

"What do you mean?"

"The demon attack at your dear Bobby's a couple of weeks ago, I think," she told him as he stared at her. "He started talking about the new sensation in the country. A girl with a soul like no other. If he gets to tell where to find her to Alastair, she won't need to find her way back home. Just saying," she walked away but Sam stopped her.

"Can you locate that demon?" He asked her making her turn around. She looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"So I tell you we need to find Lilith to kill her before she unleashes the apocalypse and you don't care, and when I tell you that girl might be found by Alastair, you give a thousand fuck?" She told him. "Don't tell me you've got a crush for that girl, Sammy?" She teased him.

"Just answer me: can you locate that demon?" He asked her ignoring her comments. She smirked at him.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Author's note:<strong>

**I hate this chapter... I wrote it in a rush yesterday, and I tried to improve it today but it turned out even more like a whole chapter of toooo many events in so little paragraphs that are lacking a lot of descriptions… And ugh, I just hate it. The thing is that I had two chapters kind of well written about this pretty long period, but I accidentally deleted the file containing those two chapters! So, I had to re-write everything I could remember from them… I feel so bad to update this chapter and not a better one but I'm just so upset to have lost the other ones… And to be honest, I don't have enough time to re-write everything exactly this weekend. So, I decided to be a very bad author and to give you this chapter… I hope that it will still be a bit entertaining.**

**And to apologize I will update the next chapter earlier, so stay tuned! It will be a way better chapter (well at least, that's what I think!).**

**Anyways, here you've got the introduction of another OC of mine (Matthew)! You'll learn more about him on the next chapter. And, he will have a pretty important role later down the road. So, if I do the math this chapter marks a period that lasted 3 weeks and 2 days… So Kate has been in the Supernatural universe for almost two months… Where does the time go? I guess it was really time for Kate to finally start getting more involved into the hunter world 'officially' !**

**Once again, I'm very sorry for all those stupid mistakes of mine and I'm sorry for this long messy chapter… And if anyone knows how I can get a beta reader, please tell me!**

**Okay, so I'm not delusional, so if you've got very angry, disappointed reviews to post, go ahead! I'm ready to receive them, I deserved them…**

**Love,**

**A.**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Ten days later.**_

_**South Dakota, Sioux Falls. At Bobby Singer's.**_

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

She was staring at a quite big gilded clock with a sort of black statue of a man leaned against it, for almost three minutes now. The little hand of the clock was almost hypnotizing as she stood there, waiting for that angel to show up.

"This is an exact replica of the clock we can find in one of the many rooms of the palace of Versailles," the familiar and annoying voice said making Kate turn around as she faced the angel who had been invading her dreams every night for a long time now, much for her displeasure than anything else. "It was delivered to the great rooms of Earl of Artois in-"

"In 1773, I kinda did a presentation about it so I know," she cut him off and he grinned as he gave her a little bow with the head. He looked at her as she stared at him with a stern face.

"Don't tell me you're still not over it?" He asked her sighing.

"Over what? The fact that you almost got Bobby, Rufus and I dead by letting the shower run so the water could go through the floor and erase the devil's trap and get the demon out? Or maybe the fact that you skipped telling me that there is an actual spell to send me back to my dimension?" She asked bitterly. Zachariah let out a long sigh as he threw his head back.

"I've already told you why we did all of this," he groaned in annoyance before he looked at her. "We needed to convince Bobby that you can take care of a demon. Otherwise, he would never let you get on the road with the Winchesters and you will never be able to fulfil the mission we gave you," he walked towards her. "And, as for the spell, we were simply waiting for the right time to tell you."

"Sure," she scoffed. He shook his head and walked around her, towards a large fancy white and red chair.

"I'm so disappointed that you would think I am not telling you the truth," he said sitting down.

"I'm sorry I have so many reasons to doubt," she replied spinning around.

"You should not doubt. God wouldn't want you to doubt Him," he told her.

"I'm not doubting Him," she said in a softer voice.

"Are you sure? You've got to understand that I am celestial entity with very great powers. It's easy for me to know when your faith is fading away," he told her as he put an arm on the back of the chair, his eyes glued to her face.

"I… I just still don't understand… I don't understand why God is letting all of those things happening," she admitted.

"I thought we made it clear last week?" He stood up in a quick movement and walked towards her. "If God had given a world without any kind of hate, despair, sorrow, pain and all this negativity, to the humans, they wouldn't need a Heaven to go to when they die. It's a tricky way to keep them faithful. By living in a crappy world, they are even more motivated to believe there's a better after life."

"Some don't believe in an afterlife… Or even in God," she told him.

"Their bad," he shrugged laughing.

"Does that mean they'll go to Hell too?" She asked him and he frowned in confusion. "Do atheist go to Hell? Even if they've been good their whole life?"

"No one is good their whole life. And everyone is good their whole life," he replied and she frowned as he turned his attention to the clock. "It's all bureaucrat things. You don't need to know that. What you need, is to focus on the Winchester brothers," he looked at her. "You're gonna have a good time with them, very soon."

"They're on a hunt and Bobby-"

"Bobby is going to let you go there, because they're going to need you," he cut her off.

"What do you mean?" She asked before he smirked and vanished in thin air. Only the sound of the clock remained until a ringing sound started to get louder and louder in the room. She turned around, her eyebrows frowned as she wondered from where it came from.

Kate opened her eyes to have her gaze land on the ceiling. Laying on her back, a blanket covering only half of her body. RIIIING. She turned her head to the little table she used as a nightstand and grabbed her cellphone that was ringing, as she felt like something was missing from her. It had been like that for weeks now. Everytime, she woke up, she would feel like she had forgotten something important, like something was truly _missing_ from her.

"Yeah?" She answered the call without even seeing who was calling her.

"Hey! You are fluent in French, right?" A male voice asked her. She wasn't completely awake to recognize the voice, nor to really understand what they were saying to her.

"What? Who's that?" She asked.

"It's me, Sam."

"Oh," she said as she rubbed her face. "How are you doing? You haven't called yesterday-"

"I was kinda busy," he replied before he coughed. "So you're fluent in French, right?"

"Yeah I am but-" She started only to be cut off by him.

"Look, Dean is completely against this idea, but hum I called Bobby and he said it was okay with him. So, could you come to Fairfax in Indiana first thing tomorrow morning?"

"What for?"

"We kinda need you to play a French teacher in a school."

"What?" She asked sitting up.

"Look, I'll send you by mail the case we're working on, okay?" He told her.

"I suppose I don't have a choice," she said in almost a pouty voice.

"Bobby said he'll have someone to drive you here and to help you pack all you'll need," he told her ignoring her comment. "I'll call you later-"

"Wait, I don't have a mail! How are you gonna send me everything I need to know by mail if I don't have a mail?" She told him before he hung up.

"Right, then hum… Just create one and text it to me," he told her.

"Alright," she replied. "You're okay, Sam you sound a bit-" She frowned when a beeping sound started against her ear. She looked at her phone and rose her eyebrows. "Sure, just hang up while I'm talking." She sighed as she flopped back in her bed, her phone still between her hands which were on her stomach. Suddenly, it vibrated in between her fingers. She brought it up and opened the text she just received.

**Sam Winchester:**** Sorry, Dean was just 3 feet from me… See you at 7am. I'll send you the exact location by mail… Can't wait to see you.**

Kate smiled and closed her eyes, thinking she could sleep a bit more, too comfortable to leave that bed. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and looked at the message again and then checked the time.

"Damn!" She sat up. "I've got only seven hours to get there!"

* * *

><p>Of course, the person Bobby had made responsible for driving Kate to Indiana, was Matthew. The moment Kate had realized they only had seven hours ahead of them to get to Indiana, while she was sure it needed a trip of ten hours to get there, she had run downstairs. He always slept on the couch even though there were two empty rooms with beds upstairs. She had rushed him into helping her pack her stuff and in less than forty minutes, they were on the road. She had called Bobby who had gone to help another hunter on a delicate case, and had told him that she and Matt were heading to Sam and Dean. He had explained to her the brothers' case briefly and he had warned her to listen to Sam and Dean, and to be very careful. Later on the road, she had pulled out the sort of monsters encyclopaedia she was writing. She had added a few things Matt had told her before grabbing another book that was in her bag and taking a few notes from it too. Matt hadn't been as talkative as he had been the whole time he had stayed at Bobby's until he had decided to check if she had been studying her monsters that well.<p>

"And what kills a shapeshifter?"

"A silver bullet or silver blade to the heart," she replied. "Just like werewolves!"

"Excellent!" Matt told her and she smiled as she looked at him. "Although, you should have just said silver blade to the heart since we both know you can't shoot."

"I can shoot!" She replied almost childishly.

"Pulling the trigger and fire anywhere, isn't shooting," he told her. "Shooting is hitting the target with the bullet."

"That's just details," she said under her breath.

"Details that can save your life," he told her and she turned her head to look at him staring at her intensively.

"Watching the road might save our lives too," she told him and he smirked before turning his head back to the road. "How long until we get there?"

"Hum," he said before glancing at his watch around his wrist. "Two hours. What time did he ask you to meet them at the motel?"

"Seven am," she replied as she brought her hand up and looked at her watch. "We're gonna be late, if we get there in two hours," she said as she saw it was now 5:32am.

"You're supposed to go have an interview in that Truman high school at 8, right?"

"Nope," she said as she bent down and grabbed her black bag and put it on her lap. She opened it and rummaged around before getting out a file with all the papers she had printed from Sam's mail. "Actually, he's already got me the job. All I have to do is pass by the principal's office to announce my arrival, and then I can just go and teach… Yay." She finished sarcastically.

"You don't like teaching?"

"Teaching? I've got no problems. It's the students, I'm not crazy about," she told him as she browsed through the papers she had already read twice earlier. A girl named April had drowned another girl in the toilet in one of the Truman high school bathrooms.

"Why not?" He asked her with a light chuckle. "They're just kids."

"Exactly. They're kids and kids can be cruel," she told him and he glanced at her.

"Not all of them."

"Most of them, yes," she said, her eyes still glued to the papers in her hands.

"This must the only time since I met you, that I'm convinced you're related to Bobby Singer," he told her chuckling. She looked up at him, her eyebrows rose before she let out a light laugh.

* * *

><p>"I'm sure, you will get along with everybody, miss Singer," the rather old principal said as Kate walked by his side in the full of students hallway. Some of them would glance at Kate and even point at her before whispering between each other.<p>

"If you say so," she replied as he gave her a gentle smile. Before leaving, Matt had made her wear one of the outfits he had bought her in the first shop they found on the road. A light blue button-up, a black pencil skirt that reached just above her knees, a pair of black high heel ankle, and sheer thighs highs. She had taken off the parka coat she had put on and was carrying it in her arms, as she had her black bag hanging on one of her shoulders. She had left her duffle bag at the reception, giving as a fake excuse that it was things she had to bring at her new apartment at the end of the day. As for her hair, she had no idea what hairstyle would make her look legit, so she decided to let them untied, and brought the upper part on the back with a hair clip. It made her hair look less wild and that was all that mattered.

"Here we are," the principal said as he pushed the door opened. They walked in and he coughed. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your full intention?" The few teachers that were in the room, talking, drinking coffee or even checking their bags, turned their heads towards the rather old man in a brown suit. "I see not everyone is here, but still. May I introduce you the substitute for Mrs Patricia Owens, Miss Kaitlin Singer."

"Just Kate will be fine," she said as she looked at the few men and women in the room. They nodded at her before the bell rang announcing the start of the day of work.

"Alright, I think it's time for your first class at Truman High," the principal told her with a smile.

"Yes, I'm heading ahead in a second," she replied nodding as he left and some teachers started to leave as well. Kate turned to one of the two coat racks that wasn't completely covered with many coats, jackets and scarfs. She put her coat on it but it dropped. As she started to bend down to take it, someone else did. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kate looked at the man who gave her gentle smile. He was quite charming and a sincere gentleness irradiating from him. He put her coat up on the coat rack and pulled his hand out. "I'm Chad Wyatt, the English teacher."

"Nice to meet you," she said shaking his hand "I'm Kate Singer, obviously."

"Have you visited the place yet?" He asked her.

"Hum, no. Not really. I kinda came here late. I don't even know where is the classroom I'm supposed to go to," she admitted which made him chuckle lightly.

"I suppose it's the same as Mrs Owens? 226?" She nodded at him. "Then, it's right across mine. I'll walk you there."

"Thanks," she replied as she followed him out the staffroom. The hallways were already empty meaning that all of the students were all in their classroom. "I'm sorry I'm making you late for your class."

"It's alright. The students will actually be happy to lose a few minutes," he told her as they kept walking. He glanced at her. "You look very young."

"Maybe that's because I am young," she replied jokingly. "I'm 25 years old."

"First job in teaching?" He asked her.

"Sort of," she replied.

"It might sound completely untrue, but you're gonna like it. Kids nowadays can be difficult, but if you listen to them properly, you'll see they're not that bad," he said with a smile before he stopped "This classroom is yours," he pointed at a door in which she could see agitated teenagers talking loudly and moving all around. "This one is mine," he pointed to the one at the opposite. "If you need anything…"

"Thank you," she replied. He nodded before walking to his classroom. She turned around and looked at the door leading to the classroom where she was supposed to teach, took a deep breath and walked in.

"Good morning everybody," she said as she closed the door behind her and put off her back bag to put it on the desk. The students turned to look at her as they started to take their seats in silence. "As you certainly know, I am the substitute for your French teacher, Mrs Owens. And my name is," she said as she turned around and grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote her name on the board. "Miss Ander- Singer!" She said erasing her real last name she had started to write and replacing it with the other. "Miss Singer, that's it," she said turning around with a nervous smile. "What would be really cool, is if you could write your first names on a paper and put it on your table so I can put a name on everyone's face." The students started to write their name and do as told. They didn't look enthusiast at all and took their whole time to write their names down. "Can anyone tell me what you were doing before Mrs Owens had to leave?"

Kate scanned the whole class to find only students looking at her as if they had just woken up and hadn't realized they weren't in their beds anymore. However, she noted a few boys' eyes traveling up and down her body. She rose her eyebrows and shook her head as she crossed her arms over her chest. Suddenly, a hand raised shyly on the back. Kate smiled at the young girl as she waved at her.

"We were studying the French revolution."

"Alright," Kate nodded as she looked down at the girl's name. _Julie_. "So I presume she made you study_ Les Misérables_?" Julie shook her head.

"She spent her whole time just rambling her lesson, Miss," a teenage boy up front said and Kate looked down at her with raised eyebrows.

"That's too bad. _Les Misérables_ is a very good story and it gives you a very good sum up image of what happened during the French Revolution," Kate said as she noticed a shelf near the windows with a few DVD boxes. She walked to it, and started looking through the collection there. "Does anyone know who wrote it?" She glanced at the class to see everyone shrugging except from the little Julie on the back. She could see that the girl knew but didn't want to pull the attention on her. "Julie? Wanna take a guess?"

"Hum, Victor Hugo?"

"Good guess," Kate smiled at her as she turned her attention back to the shelf. "Oh here!" She said as she took a DVD and showed it to the students. "Well, it's a not so old version movie of the book. Maybe, we could watch a bit, what do you say?"

"Yeah!" Everybody exclaimed, happy to watch a movie instead of studying. Kate chuckled.

"You'll still have to do an assignment about it for tomorrow," she told them and they groaned. "It would be in French of course. And, hum, well let's say it would have to be a double sided-page. But for now, you're gonna watch it," she looked down at the DVD in her hands. "Does anyone know how we can play it with that machine?" She asked pointing at the overhead projector. Two students rose their hands. "Okay, go ahead, settle everything while you three over there you pull the curtains." She told them as she handed them the DVD, grabbed her bag and walked to the back of the class.

A few minutes later, the movie was on, and all of the students were completely focused on the movie. Kate pulled out her cellphone she had put in her bag and bit down on her bottom lip as she noticed the many missed calls, and texts. All from Sam. The last one saying that Bobby had told him she had reached the Truman High, and asking her where she was. She sent him a text to tell him she was teaching in a classroom, and will meet him right when the class was over in a couple of hours.

* * *

><p>"<em>N'oubliez pas de faire votre devoir pour demain ! Et on regardera la fin du film au début du cours !<em>" Kate said loudly as the students gathered their things and started to walk out. She checked her planning and saw that she had exactly an hour before her next class in the same room. She stood up quickly and rushed the last students to leave the room. "Come on, you've been in here for an hour. Don't you wanna leave this room as fast as possible?" She told them and they gave her strange gazes as they all got out. She closed the door and looked around before glancing at her phone in her hand. "Where the hell is he?" She mumbled as she looked up and tried to look through the students as they made their way to their next class. She tapped her thumb rhythmically on her phone as she looked at her left and right.

"You're waiting for someone, Miss Singer?" Mr Wyatt asked as he walked towards her.

"Hum, no," she lied and he arched an eyebrow.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm just waiting for the bell to ring so I can have the whole hallways completely empty and I can visit the place peacefully, you know?" She smiled nervously.

"Well, I'm actually hoping this break will last longer because I have another class just after and it's with my most complicated students," he replied chuckling. "How was your first class here?"

"Good. Good, very good," she told him nodding her head when suddenly the bell rang.

"I suppose the Gods are on your side," he told her jokingly as he looked up while the bell was ringing.

"Looks like," she said smiling.

"See you later," he told her and she nodded frantically as he left to his classroom.

The hallway emptied very quickly and soon she was the only one standing there. She turned her head to the right when she heard some noise. She couldn't help the large smile that grew on her lips as her eyes fell on a tall man wearing a khaki janitor suit. She made quick steps towards him and he made big steps towards her too. He smiled back at her as they approached each aother.

"Has anyone told you that khaki brings out your eyes?" She asked him in a teasing tone making him chuckle. She leaned up and put her arms around his neck as he leaned down. She hugged him tightly and he let out a breath. He smiled against her hair before she pulled away but still kept her arms around his neck while his were around her waist. She looked up at him with a sincere grin. "It's so good to see you, Sammy."

"It's good to see you too, Katie," he said smiling, his cheeks a bit red. Kate pulled her arms away and stepped back making him let go of her too. "I gotta say the teacher style looks good on you."

"Thanks," she replied with a light smirk. "So, was it your idea or Bobby to give me his last name?"

"Actually, it was the only name I could think of when I made your file," he admitted before motioning her to walk with him.

"I'm surprised they had been lenient enough to let me get through without an ID though," she said as they started walking down the hallway.

"Oh right!" He exclaimed as he looked down at her. "Remind me to create your fake ID with your picture and stuff later," she gave him a simple nod. "Which motel are you staying at?"

"None," she replied as they turned left and walked down the staircase. "I didn't have time to find myself a motel to leave my duffle bag there, so I just put it at the reception."

"Good. You'll bunk with us, then."

"Same room?"

"Preferably. It will be easier to make sure you're safe. But you can have your own room if you rather, of course," he told her before grimacing as he remembered what he was supposed to tell her and his brother.

"What?"

"I forgot to tell you… I spent a couple of hours going through the whole school and there's no sulphur which means-"

"No demon!" She cut him off enthusiastically. He stopped and looked at her with rose eyebrows. "Because sulphur means demon," she told him with a smile that showed him how proud of knowing that, she was.

"Yeah," he nodded slowly as an amused smile grew on his lips. He pushed a door as they walked in another empty hallway.

"But, wait that also means there's no case," she said with frowned eyebrows.

"Exactly," he nodded his head.

"Does that mean I had to make a long trip for nothing?"

"Sorry," he told her with a little smile. She sighed and waved her hand.

"Oh nevermind! It gave me the opportunity to see you after so long," she said making him smile. "And now I can finally leave this terrible place."

"We still gotta tell Dean, and then we can leave."

* * *

><p>"Today, you will have the honor of playing one of the greatest games ever invented. A game of skill, agility, cunning. A game with one simple rule... dodge," Dean said to the few students standing in line in front of him as he walked. He was dressed in a white shirt and tight red shorts, and had a red headband on his head. The outfit was ridiculous and he knew it, but he loved the whistle and how it gave him full power. He threw a ball with force into a student stomach and regretted immediately when the student groaned in pain. "Sorry."<p>

"Uh, Substitute Coach Roth..." A student said.  
>"Yes?" He replied with a strong rough voice as he walked towards the boy.<br>"Ms. Boudreaux never let us play dodge ball."  
>"Well, Ms. B's in Massachusetts getting married, so we're playing," he replied as he kept holding in between his fingers the whistle that hung around his neck.<br>"She says it's dangerous," the student said and Dean decided to ignore it as he blew his whistle.  
>"Take a lap!"<br>"But-" The student said and Dean kept blowing the whistle which made the student run quickly. Dean looked in the back to see Sam walking in followed by a brown-head that he wasn't expecting at all. He threw the bag of balls to the class.

"Go nuts," he told them before making his way towards the two.

Dean couldn't stop his eyes from traveling up and down Kate's figure. His eyes then focused on her natural red lips that popped out from her soft white face. Dean was pretty sure she hadn't even any make up on her except from that thin black line on her eyelids. There was no denying, his memory hadn't given her justice at all. He used to remember her as an ordinary brunette with brown eyes and an extraordinary ability to make him feel better; but now he realized that she was really very pretty and it wasn't just the fact that she was dressed in such pretty clothes that hung at the right places. He couldn't help the little smile that appeared on his face as the sight of her sent a wave of softness and serenity that he had been waiting for ever since that night.

"Having fun?" Sam asked as Kate bit on her bottom lip very hard while she looked at Dean's outfit.

"The whistle makes me their god," he replied as he glanced at his brother before he looked at Kate. "So how are you doing, substitute Singer?" He asked her seductively making Sam roll his eyes. She shook with laughter as she tried not to burst out laughing.

"Those… Shorts… Oh my God…" She managed to let out in between breaths as she held her stomach. Dean glared at her.  
>"Nice shorts, indeed," Sam told him which made Dean look up at him with a glare too while Kate shook even more with laughter.<p>

"And I was gonna say it's good to see you, Kaitlin," Dean sighed as he looked at her. She pressed her lips together and took a deep breath through her nostrils. Dean and Sam stared at her.

"It's good to see you too," she said as her lips started to curve into a smile and she suddenly bursted out laughing. "I'm so-sorry!" She turned around and took a deep breath before spinning around to face them with a stoic expression.

"You're done?" He asked her. She gave a nod, her lips pressed together as he turned his head towards Sam. "So, found anything?"

"I've been over the entire school twice. No sulfur," Sam replied.  
>"No sulfur, no demon. No demon, no case," Dean reasoned and Kate turned to Sam pointing at herself silently. He nodded with a little smile.<br>"But, I don't know, Dean. Maybe I was wrong," Sam replied as he turned his attention back to his brother.  
>"Well, it happens to the best of us. I say we hit the road, huh? But after lunch - it's sloppy-joe day," Dean said with a grin.<p>

"Ohh!" One of the students shouted, Kate and Sam looked at the boy, and grimaced as he ran holding his nose.  
>"Good hustle, Colby! Walk it off," Dean shouted at the boy.<p>

"Maybe one of us should walk him to the nurse's office?" Kate said looking back and forth at Dean and Sam. "Though, I have no idea where it is."

"I'll go," Sam said before quickly running after the boy. Kate turned her head back to Dean to find him staring at her.

"What?" She asked him.

"You look different," he told her and she rose her eyebrows.

"Do I?"

"Yeah."

"I suppose it's because we haven't seen each other for a month or so," she replied.

"Yeah," he just said and she stared at him before she glanced at the students behind him.

"I better go and let you play god with your whistle," she said with a smile as she turned around. He looked at her as she walked towards the door. He couldn't help but check her out a little bit. Damn that pencil skirt fitted her so well.

"Has anyone told you the teacher style looks really good on you?" Dean said making her turn around with a smile.

"Actually, yes," she told him and he smirked at her before he turned around ready to go back to his students when she made him spin around by calling him. "Hey Dean!"

"Yeah?"

"I missed you," she told him in a voice as soft as the smile that was on her face. He stared into her brown eyes not knowing what to say. She turned around and walked away, leaving him to stare at the door, a bit taken aback by what had just happened, but mostly puzzled and wistful.

* * *

><p>"Mr Wyatt!" Kate said as she rushed to the tall man who was talking with two students. He looked at her as she approached him.<p>

"If you need to talk, Lindsay or even you Marie, you know where to find me," he said to the girls who nodded before leaving. Kate looked at them before looking up at the man. "Miss Singer. I assume you learned the bad news seeing your expression?"

"Yes, Mr Opkins told me a student put another student's hand in a spinning Cuisinart," she told him shaking her head. "That's just horrible."

"Yeah," Mr Wyatt said and Kate could see the hurt on his face. "There's a reunion all the teachers are supposed to go, even the substitutes. We better go, now." Kate nodded at him and followed him. "It must be hard for you to start in a school in which two tragedies happened in such a short time."

"Yeah," she said thoughtfully before looking up at him. "I heard about the girl who was drowned by another. Did you know them?"

"April was a student of mine, yes," he replied. "She was a very good student with so much potential… She was a bit reserved and well, you know, high school can be really tough for reserved kids," she glanced at him as they arrived near the classroom where the reunion was supposed to take place. "But, I would have never thought she would go as far as killing someone… I suppose it was all the accumulation of too much pressure and maybe some background problems."

"I suppose we all have our own demons," Kate said in a little voice as she reminisced her high school years. Years of trying to fit in, years of enduring stupid bullies, years of struggling with an anxiety that had made her more and more reserved. Years of praying it would all end and she would get as far away from that place as possible.

"_I've heard that her mother has been trying to give the full keep to her father for years now, but her father doesn't wanna get her either so he completely moved out of town," a tall skinny blonde said as she leaned against the sink._

"_No way!" Another blonde with a pitchy voice exclaimed as she put on her pink lip-gloss, her eyes glued to the mirror._

"_No doubt they all want to leave her, she's a real freak!" A brunette adjusting her cleavage said next to them._

"_Did you see her yesterday at the gym class? She went all crazy and pretended to be sick so she could go to the nurse. I heard she did because she's scared of being around people." The brunette said._

"_Oh yeah! I heard about that phobia last week! I can't remember what it's called though…" The skinny blonde replied._

"_The Kate-phobia," the blonde applying her lip-gloss said making them all laugh._

"_Maybe it would make a better nickname than Fatty Katie," the brunette said._

"_Oh no… I like Fatty Katie, it's just as pathetic as her," the blonde said when suddenly the bell rang. "Oh shit! Let's go, I don't want Mrs Patterson to give me another detention because I'm late!"_

_In a toilet cabinet, the teenage Kate was standing on the toilet, tears streaming down her face as she tried to stay as quiet as possible. When the bell finished ringing and she was sure no one was left in the bathroom, she sat down on the toilet and breathed heavily through her sobs._

* * *

><p>"How's the nonviolence assembly going?" Sam asked as Dean and Kate made their way towards him in the deserted hallway.<p>

"Apparently, shoving a kid's arm into a Cuisinart is not a 'healthy display of anger.' So, the kid had ectoplasm leaking out his ear," Dean replied.

"Which only comes from a seriously pissed-off spirit, right?" Kate said making the brothers nod at her.

"It means that it's got to be ghost possession," Sam said.  
>"Yeah, but that's pretty rare," Dean told them.<p>

"Yeah, but it happens. I mean, they get angry enough, they can take control of a person's body," Sam explained.

"Does that mean we've got an actual ghost in here?" Kate asked with wide eyes. "Like Casper is here wandering around?"

"Wandering around and killing people," Dean said as he looked at her. "I suppose Casper rebelled."

"Yeah, but there's no EMF," Sam said as he looked back and forth at them. "Maybe we could find out who it is, at least. You know, check and see if somebody died bloody around here or something."  
>"Way ahead of you. I had to break into the principal's office to get this-" Dean started.<p>

"So that's why you were late to the reunion?" Kate cut him off.

"Yeah," he replied before looking up at his brother with a smirk. "FYI, three of the cheerleaders are legal. Guess which ones."

"No," Sam and Kate said in sync as they gave Dean a stern look. He gave a slight pout before he unfolded a paper that he took from his pocket.

"So, there was only one death on campus. It was a suicide back in '98," Dean told them as Kate looked away and crossed her arms over her chest. "Some kid named Barry Cook. What?" Kate looked up at Sam as he sighed.

"I knew him. How did he die?"

"He slit his wrists in the first-floor girls' bathroom," Dean replied.

"That's where-" Sam started.  
>"Right where the chick got swirleyed to death, exactly," Dean finished for him. "So, what? This ghost is possessing nerds?"<br>"And using them to go after bullies, yeah," Sam said before he noticed Kate's expression was distant. "You're okay, Katie?" She looked up at him and nodded, but her face remained a bit distant.  
>"Well, does that sound like Barry's M.O.?" Dean asked his brother.<br>"Barry had a hard time," Sam replied softly before looking at Kate again and frowning his eyebrows as he realized something bothered her. "Katie-" He started.

"I better go back to the reunion or they'll think the two substitutes are banging," she told them quickly before turning around and walking away.

"That's weird," Sam whispered as the two brothers watched her go.

"Yeah, who says banging nowadays?" Dean said frowning his eyebrows as he looked at his little brother. Sam looked at him and sighed.

"That's not what I meant," Sam told him as Kate had turned in a hallway and was completely out of sight. "Besides you used that expression three days ago."

* * *

><p>Dean parked his car across the graveyard and turned around in his front seat to look at Kate sitting on the backseat.<p>

"You're sure you don't want us to drop you off at the motel while we take care of this?" He asked her as he looked at her with concern. He wasn't very fond of the idea of Kate having to watch them burn and salt a corpse. He hadn't been very willing for her to even join them on that case but Sam had convinced him that having Kate would make them cover more territory, and Bobby had accepted saying it would be good for her to get out of his house. He had warned Dean not to let her face any danger, though. She was there to help them find what was there, to research more and to wait for them as they solved the case.

"Yeah," she told him as she looked at him before glancing at the rearview mirror to meet Sam's gaze there. "I want to come."

"Alright," Dean sighed. "Let's go, then." He walked out of the car and walked to the hood. Kate and Sam approached him as he pulled out two shovels and pickaxe. Sam grabbed a bag as Kate took a shovel from Dean. He looked at her and didn't say a word as he handed her a flashlight. They finished taking all that they needed and started walking to the graveyard. Kate switched on her flashlight and so did Sam.

"So, Kaitlin," Dean started as they walked in the graveyard towards Barry's grave that Sam had found the exact location earlier. "What have you been doing at Bobby's all that time?"

"Bobby hasn't told you anything?" She asked him.

"Not really," he replied as Sam was ahead of them listening to them while showing the way. "He just said you helped him with some research once in a while."

"Yeah, well there's that and other stuff," she replied and he glanced at her.

"Other stuff?" He asked her.

"Yeah," she said shrugging and he looked up and down at the young woman in her dark green almost khaki parka coat covering her from shoulders to her mid-thighs. He couldn't help linger a bit on her legs, they seemed even longer with her high heels and he liked that.

"Did you find answers for your ticket back home?" Dean asked her as his gaze went back up to her face.

"No, not really," she replied as Sam stopped walking and looked down at a grave. "Barry's grave?" He nodded at her.

She approached him and put her hand gently on his forearm, squeezing it gently as she looked up at him, hoping he will feel the comfort she wanted to give him with this simple gesture. He looked down at her and gave her a little smile. Dean stared at them for a moment, the easiness between them was more than obvious, but he didn't really want to keep on seeing that right now.

"We should get started before Casper decides to show up," he said making them both nod as they stepped back.

* * *

><p>"Dean, let me just go get you that bottle of water," Kate said as she looked down at Sam and Dean who were almost done digging. The hole was pretty big and it had taken some time to make it. Of course, they both forbad her to help her the slightest and she had called them macho men who thought she wasn't strong enough. Sam explained her that she wasn't even dressed to climb down in the hole and dig in the dirt, and that Bobby would kick their ass if he found out they made her do the dirty work.<p>

"I'm okay," Dean replied as he kept digging.

"You've been complaining that you're thirsty for the last fifteen minutes, Dean," she told him as she stood right above the hole, her hands in her pockets. "Come on, I can walk to the car and get you water!"

"You don't go anywhere. You just stay under our watch," he replied pointing at her as she rolled her eyes. Right then, Sam pushed his shovel down only to find out that they had reached the coffin. He bent down and Dean looked at him. "We're done digging?"

"Yeah," Sam said as he pushed away a bit of the dirt and stepped back to pull open the upper part of the coffin. He turned his head and looked at Kate. "Katie, you can still look away if you want."

"No, I'm okay," she replied as she licked her lips before biting them together while Dean climbed out of the hole. Kate took a step back as he stood next to her. He looked at her and asked her if she was sure as he wiped the sweat away from his face. She nodded, her eyes glued to the coffin.

"Alright," Sam said as he opened the coffin and Kate's eyes widen a bit at what she saw. Sam sighed as he looked down at what was left of one of his rare childhood friends.

"You're alright, Kaitlin?" Dean asked as he watched her face. She turned her head to look at him and was a bit surprised to see that he was actually very close to her. She looked up at his face which she could see very well under the moonlight. And, for a second she was entirely mesmerized by the traits of his whole face, and the way his green eyes sparkled.

"You've got some… Dirt," She said pointing at his forehead. He brought his hand up wiping the left side of it. "Here," she told him as she pulled out a tissue from her pockets, and brought her hand up to wipe it away gently. He looked at her eyes as they focused on what she was doing before her gaze met his as she pulled her hand away. "You're good." He nodded, and turned his attention back to his little brother.

* * *

><p>After they had salted and burned the corpse, they were driving back to the motel. Kate was as quiet as Sam, and Dean thought it was normal since it was the first time she saw the process of salt and burn. However, he couldn't help feel a bit concerned by his little brother sitting on the seat next to his.<br>"You all right?" He asked him and Kate turned her head towards the two brothers.  
>"Barry was my friend. I just burned his bones," Sam replied and Kate felt bad when she heard Sam's voice filled with sadness.<br>"Well, he's at peace now, Sam," Dean told him trying to make him feel better.  
>"I mean, if Dad had let us stay just a little while longer, maybe I could have helped the kid, you know?"<br>"You read the coroner's report same as me," Dean replied. "Barry was on every anxiety drug and antidepressant known to man. School was hell for that kid. His parents had split up. He just wanted out. It was tragic, but it's not your fault… To tell you the truth, I'm glad we got out of that town. I hated that school."" Dean told Sam as Kate leaned against the window and closed her eyes while other memories came back in her mind.

"_Oh look at that!"_

"_Ashley, give it back to me," the teenage brown-head said as she pulled her hand out._

"_Are you ordering me, Fatty-Katie?" The blonde said as she held a little black box in her hand, while the other was on her hips. "Anyways!" She exclaimed as she quickly stood on one of the chairs in the lunchroom. Everybody looked up at her. "Listen up everybody!"_

"_Ashley…" The teenage version of Kate started as the slim blonde just ignored her._

"_Did anyone know that Fatty-Katie took drugs? Not any drugs! Antidepressant drugs!" Everyone's eyes turned to look at Kate. Ashley looked down at Kate. "You're such a freak that you need drugs to make you feel normal? How pathetic that is! I understand now why you've got no friends, you fat freak!" Some students started to laugh and Kate closed her eyes as she tried to calm herself down. She had only started taking those drugs a few days ago, hoping it would help her manage her anxiety, and she had forgotten to leave them at her house. Suddenly, as the laughs around her seemed to get louder, Kate felt a wave of anger go through her._

"_Give it back to me right now, Ashley," Kate told her with a strong voice as she looked up at the girl with a glare._

"_What? You're gonna make a panic attack or something like that, right now?" The blonde said laughing. Kate felt her heart beating harder against her chest as she heard the sound of her heartbeats in her ears. All of sudden, Kate threw herself at Ashley making the girl fall down, yelping. Ashley's friends didn't lose time to grab Kate apart. Three of them kicked her again and again on the floor as everybody else just watched. She grabbed a girl's ankle and pulled at it, making her fall before she sent a kick up on another girl as the third one just pulled at Kate's hair. Ashley looked at Kate with hatred as the young brown-head managed to hit the girl pulling at her hair. Suddenly, two teachers approached them._

"_Stop it, right now!" A rather old-man said as they separated the girls. "I want you five in the principal's office, now!"_

* * *

><p>Once they parked in the motel parking, the three of them got out of the car walking towards the rooms door when Dean stopped abruptly. He looked at Kate before he left saying he was coming back in a few minutes. Kate followed Sam to their room in silence and once they were in, she noticed how very little the room was and how it looked even dirtier than the previous one she had stayed in with them. She noticed the lack of a couch and realized she would certainly have to share a bed with one of them.<p>

"Katie, can I ask you a question?" Sam said making her spin around to face him.

"Shoot," she replied.

"Why did you sound so relieved to leave this place?" He asked her.

"What?"

"You know, when I told you earlier there might not have any case here, you said you said something like you could finally leave this terrible place," he told her.

"Oh, yeah," she said nodding her head as he kept staring at her. "I just don't have really good memories of high school, you know?" He felt like she was avoiding telling him more.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked her gently and she looked at him hesitantly. Suddenly the door opened and Dean walked in, throwing something at her. She caught it easily and looked down to find it was a key.

"Got your own room this time," he told her as he shrugged his jacked off. "Thought it'd give you more privacy."

"Thanks," she just said as she walked towards the door with Sam's gaze following her. Dean grabbed his duffle bag and followed her. She stopped at the door and looked at him with a questioning expression.

"I'm just gonna help you secure the room with salt," he told her.

"Just give me the salt, I'll do it on my own," she told him as she pulled her hand out. "I'm sure I'm capable of drawing salt lines at every exits."

* * *

><p>The next day, Kate had joined the boys in the parking lot with her duffle bag and her back bag pretty early. She had put on a dark denim pants, the same pair of boots than the previous day, and a white long-sleeved tee-shirt and of course the parka coat on it. Kate had asked them if they could have lunch before leaving and the brothers had accepted, feeling very hungry themselves since all they had for dinner the night before was some triangle sandwiches. Later, Sam had asked Dean to drive them to the high school before leaving town. Dean had said it was better to leave immediately without saying any goodbyes but Sam had insisted telling him he needed to see a teacher who used to be his teacher back when they were young.<p>

"Really? We came back here so you could talk to a teacher?" Dean asked him.  
>"He's a good guy," Sam replied.<p>

"Which teacher you wanna see, Sam?" Kate asked from the backseat.

"Mr Wyatt, my former English teacher," he told her as he glanced at her through the rearview mirror.

"Oh, yeah. He's a really great guy," Kate said nodding her head. Dean looked at her through the rearview mirror.

"Is that the guy who kept whispering to you during the nonviolence reunion?" He asked her.

"He talked to me just twice during the reunion, and it was to explain to me a few things," she replied rolling her eyes. "But, yeah that's him."

"He was a very good teacher, and one of the few that showed true concern to his students," Sam explained.

"Well, whatever," Dean said. "Go have your Robin Williams "O captain! My captain!" moment. Just make it quick."

"I'm going too," Kate said and Dean looked in the rearview mirror again. "I wanna tell him goodbye." She said in almost a whisper as she kept touching the toy soldier stuck in the rear door ashtray that Sam had told her, he had stuck there when he was kid.

* * *

><p>Sam and Kate were walking down the deserted hallway in silence, both of them deep in thought. Sam ran his hand though his hair as Kate looked up at him and remembered the few things he had told her about his childhood. How crappy it was because of their father's way to raise them.<p>

"Excuse me, can you tell me how to find room 305?" A young girl asked making Sam and Kate turn around.

"Sure," Sam replied with a polite smile. "Hum... head down the hall, take your first right, and it's the third door on the left."  
>"Thanks, Sam," she said making Kate and Sam look at the girl with big eyes. The girl took out knife from her pocket and threw herself at Sam as she tried to stab him with it.<br>"You got tall, Winchester," the girl said before kicking Sam in the face making him fall to the ground. Kate went in between them, preventing the girl from reaching Sam. "Get out of the way."

"I don't think so," Kate replied and the girl kicked Kate in the stomach before grabbing her arms and throwing her away. Kate landed on the lockers a few feet away, groaning in pain. She saw the woman approaching Sam who quickly grabbed her and put his palm on her mouth. Kate tried to stand up as she stared at the girl who started to shake violently. Suddenly, Kate witnessed something even more astonishing. It seemed like the ghost was ripped from the girl's body and it flew out the door. The girl collapsed and Sam sat down holding her. He looked up at Kate who was holding her stomach in slight pain.

"You're alright?" He asked her and she nodded as she stared at him breathing heavily.

"How did you do that?" She asked him.

"Salt," he told her as he showed her his hand in which there was still a bit of salt. She glanced at the girl and then at Sam.

"No wonder you went to Stanford, you're a real smart," she told him making him let out a light snicker.

* * *

><p>Sam and Kate were in the back of a school bus with an EMF meter while Dean was up front, searching for some clue of the ghost. They had figured out that all the students who had been possessed by the ghost, were taking the same bus to go to school. So here they were, going through the whole bus.<p>

"Definitely not clean," Sam said.

"Here, ghosty, ghosty, ghosty! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Dean said making Kate look at him.

"You're really think it will get him out of his hiding place?" Kate told him.

"You never know," he replied shrugging as she shook her head with a little amused smile.  
>"Man, I don't get it. No one ever died on this bus, and it's not like there's a body hidden in here," Sam said as he looked at his brother with a confused expression.<p>

"Yeah, but doesn't a flap of skin or a hair can tie the ghost to this place?" Kate asked.

"Actually yeah! I mean, hell, a hangnail could be tying the ghost to this place. We just gotta find it," Dean replied as Kate decided to join Dean who was looking through some papers at the front of the bus.  
>"Got a new driving permit. Issued two weeks ago," he said glancing at the brunette as she stood next to him, trying to look at the papers in his hands.<p>

"Just before the first attack," Sam said as Dean stared at Kate's hair. He hadn't noticed that her dark brown hair had lighter strands. He liked it.

"Yeah," Kate said as she leaned more and read what was written. "Name of the bus driver is Dirk McGregor Sr., 39… 39 North Central Avenue."

"McGregor?" Sam asked making Kate turn her head at him which made Dean turn his attention to his brother as well.

"Yeah. Why?" She asked him.

"I knew his son," Sam replied.

"Did you know everybody at this school?" Dean asked, when all of sudden someone tapped on the bus door. They all turned to see a middle-aged man. "Hum hello coach!"

"Hello," the man replied to Dean as he looked at Kate and then at Sam in the back of the bus. "Everything's okay here?"

"Yeah, yeah," Dean nodded his head. "We were just trying to find some hum necklace! A student lost a necklace here so we're looking for it!"

"Alright," the man replied not seeming really convinced as Sam, Dean and Kate gave him fake grin. "Anyway, Miss Singer, may I have a little chat with you?"

"Sure," she said as she took a few steps before seeing the EMF meter in her hands and shoving it to Dean before walking out of the bus while the brothers looked at each other and shrugged.

* * *

><p>"So, you were friends with Dirk?" Mr Mcgregor said as Sam, Dean and Kate were standing in his living room.<p>

"Yes, sir, in high school," Sam replied.

"I don't recall Dirk having many friends at Truman. Here, sit. Sit down." Dean sat down on the little couch and Kate sat down next to him, before Sam joined them. She moved closer to Dean, trying to give as much room as possible for the giant Sam. Dean looked at her as she glanced at him murmuring a sorry.

"When did, uh - when did Dirk pass?" Dean asked as he turned his attention back to the man sitting across from them.

"He was 18."

"What happened to him?" Sam asked in a gentle tone.

"Well, there was, first, drinking, then drugs, and then too many drugs. And then he just slipped through my fingers. It was my fault. I should have seen it coming, you know? Dirk, he, uh - he had his troubles," Mr Mcgregor told them.

"What kind of troubles?" Dean asked.

"School was never easy for Dirk. We didn't have much money, and, well, you know, kids - they can be cruel. They picked on him," Mr Mcgregor replied and Kate frowned a bit remembering Sam telling her that Dirk was picking on people, not the other way around.

"They picked on him?" She asked hesitantly.

"They called him poor and dirty and stupid. They even had a nickname for him," Mr Mcgregor said as he tried to recall the name. "Dirk the jerk. And after what happened to his mother, he…"  
>"His mother?" Sam asked confused.<p>

"Yeah, Jane, my wife. She died when Dirk was thirteen. Cancer," Mr Mcgregor replied and the three of them felt a bit for the old man. However, Sam was the one who reacted worse, guilt rising in him. The more Mr Mcgregor talked, the more Sam felt shitty. He had no idea what Dirk was going through back then. "I was working three jobs, so it fell to Dirk to take care of her. And he was a great kid. He made sure Jane got her medicine. He helped her, cleaned up after her. But, you know, you - you watch somebody die slow, waste away to nothing... it does things to a person. Horrible things."  
>"We didn't know about his mother… I'm truly sorry," Kate told the old man with a soft gaze. He nodded at her with a gentle yet sad smile.<p>

"He - he wouldn't talk about her, not even to me," he shook his head. "Lot of anger in that boy." Kate looked down, nodding her head slowly.

"I'm sorry," Sam said to the man and Kate glanced at him, as his whole face showed real regrets.

"Well, we'd really like to pay our respects, Mr. McGregor," Dean said. "Um, you mind telling us where Dirk is buried?"  
>"Oh, he wasn't. I had him cremated."<p>

"All of him?" Kate asked surprised. If she had done well when studying the supernatural creatures of that universe, a ghost completely burned could never come back except if some part of him, even the tiniest, was still intact.

"Well, I kept a lock of his hair,"Mr McGregor replied as he looked at her.

"Oh, that's - that's nice. Where do you keep that?" Dean asked.

"On my bus, in my Bible," the man replied a bit confused.

* * *

><p>"<em>You just destroyed your whole future, Kate! This is a mark on your high school file that will close every single doors ahead of you! And, can you imagine what I will have to say to Mrs Thompson? How do I tell my boss that I'm sorry my daughter attacked your daughter? Huh?"<em>

"_She started it, mom!"_

"_I don't care who started it! You could have just suck it up and walk away!"_

"_Don't you see it mom? I've been sucking it up for years now! I've let them all make fun of me, humiliate me and I never complained once to anyone!" She shouted back at her mother as they stood in her high school hallway._

"_I've made you take karate classes so you could take off all kind of stress out there! If I knew you would take it all on those girls, I wouldn't have paid so much!" Her mother shouted ignoring what she had just told her. Kate shook her head and turned around ready to walk away. "Don't you dare turn your back on me, young lady! We still gotta talk about how you managed to get those drugs! Come back here, right now!"_

_Kate kept walking away, she pushed a door and made her outside the building. She turned left, knowing her mother would go to the right where the parking lot was. She kept walking and stopped in track when she heard the nickname she hated so much._

"_Fatty Katie," Kate turned around to see the four girls she had fought with during lunchtime. "I heard you received a sanction of three days off school. Well, we," Ashley said as she opened her arms motioning to her friends. "We had the same. But, you know what my mother said too? No going out for a whole month and I can say goodbye to my new car I've been dying to have." Kate just stared at her as they started to walk towards her. "You know what that means?"_

"_You're gonna have to take the bus to school like most of us?" Kate replied sarcastically. Ashley snorted._

"_That means," she said as they stopped walking. "I'm gonna make your last years here a real Hell."_

* * *

><p>Tired, Kate yawned for the second time, as she was sitting next to the middle-aged coach by her side, in the school bus. It was already dark outside since night had fallen a few hours ago and she had just returned from a high school basketball match. She had wanted to stay with the brothers tonight but Dean had been categorical. She would not go to Truman High with them as they would take Dirk's lock of hair and burn it just in case the ghost would show up again. He had told her to just go back to her motel room and wait for their return but she had told him that she couldn't anyway because the coach who had caught the three of them in the bus had asked her if she could assist the basketball match. He had told her that at least half of the students in the basketball team were taking her French classes. He had told her it would be great for her to show them she was interested in their activities. Not really knowing how to say no to someone so insisting, Kate had unwillingly accepted. So, here she was listening to that man going over and over again about all the previous matches his team won in the noisy bus full of rather excited students.<p>

"Where would we be without Eddie, huh?" He told her chuckling and she nodded at him with a plastered smile. "Thanks for subbing tonight, Eddie!"  
>"My pleasure, Coach," Kate heard Eddie reply as she looked outside through the window. Suddenly, she noticed that the bus was kind of going really fast. She frowned and looked up at the back of Eddie's seat.<br>"Hum, Eddie, you want to ease up on the pedal, there?" She told him as the coach next to her agreed.

"Yeah, we're not in a rush, you know?" He said laughing.

"I got it all under control," Eddie replied as Kate stood up from her seat, worried a little bit.

All of sudden, the bus swerved and she gripped on the seats as the bus came to a violent stop.

"What the hell was that?" A student shouted. Kate looked around at everybody.

"Everyone alright?" She asked loudly only to have a few scoffs and some comments along 'yeah, almost dead!' and other things that just made it clear they were all okay.

The brunette turned her head to the driver as he opened the bus door and stepped out of the bus.

"What the hell?" The coach said as he looked at Kate who stared at the students on the left side of the bus, staring through their windows. When suddenly they heard the sound of a gunload which made her slightly jump and blink while the students screamed. She looked at the coach and motioned him to move so she could pass. He took his whole time to move and impatient, Kate started to push him away, right when Dean entered the bus.

"Dean!" She said as his eyes fell on her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I told you I had a match to go to," she told him.

"You didn't say you'd be in this bus!"

"There was a last-minute change," she replied as she walked to him.

"All right, everybody stay where you are," he said to everyone before looking at Kate. "Except you Miss Singer, of course."

"Aren't you the P.E. Teacher?" Someone said in the bus.

"Not really. I'm like "21 Jump Street." The bus driver sells pot," Dean replied as he glanced at Kate by his side. "And Miss Singer is my sexy colleague, yeah." Kate rose her eyebrows at the way he introduced her, and stared at him. He looked at her and gave her a little smile along with a shrug of his shoulders. She shook her head as he turned around and bent down.

"So, the lock of hair is on this bus?" She asked him in a whisper. He nodded and she quickly joined him in the research of the Bible containing that hair lock. Kate found the Bible, she opened it and started to shake it in order to make the lock of hair drop but there was absolutely nothing. Dean looked at her before going to the bus door.  
>"It's not here!" He shouted to Sam.<br>"Where is it?" Sam snarled as he pointed a gun at Eddie who was possessed by Dirk.

"Nowhere you'll ever find it," he replied making Sam push the shotgun against him.

"Where is it?!" Sam shouted at him.

"Sam Winchester. Still a bully. You, you jocks... you popular kids... you always thought you were better than everybody else. And to you, I was just Dirk the jerk, right? Now you evil sons of bitches are gonna get what's coming to you," Dirk said as Kate was now standing next to Dean outside the bus.

"I'm not evil, Dirk. I'm not. And neither were you. Trust me. I've seen real evil. We were scared and miserable, and we took it out on each other - us and everybody else," Sam told him. "That's high school. But you suffer through that, and it gets better. I'm just sorry you didn't get a chance to see that... you or Barry." Kate felt as if those words were said _to_ her. She stared at Sam and realized how true his words were.

"Nothing is gonna get better for me. Not ever," Dirk replied before he suddenly broke out of the rope. Sam fired salt at him which made the whole bus scream again. What was certainly the spirit of Dirk, just flew back to the bus before entering inside a student that was on the bus. The possessed student walked out pushing Kate and Dean out of his way as he marched towards Sam and attacked him from behind. When he started beating Sam up, Kate grabbed the shotgun on the ground and tried to focus on the student before firing at his shoulder and missing him completely.

"Dean! Kate! Find the hair!" Sam shouted as Kate dropped the gun on the ground, and started looking through the pocket of the unconscious Eddie, for the lock of hair. Dean pulled Eddie's shoe off as she kept looking through his pants pockets.

Dean found the lock of hair, showing it to Kate who turned her head to Sam as Dean took out his lighter, and set it on fire. Dirk screamed as he flew out of the student body. Dean leaned his back against the bus as he stared at the brunette who was looking at his brother. Suddenly, the student fell on Sam who called out from under the student.

"Little help?" Kate chuckled as she looked at him, Dean glanced at Sam and made a funny face.

"He's giving you the full cowgirl," he said making Kate glance at him, laughing fully as she met his eyes. When she turned her attention back to Sam, still laughing at him, Dean couldn't help the soft smile that formed on his lips while staring at her.

* * *

><p>Knock, knock.<p>

Mr Wyatt looked up from the papers he was grading at his desk in his classroom. Kate stood at the doorway, wearing a simple pair of denim pants, a beige long-sleeve tee-shirt and her flat converse shoes. She had put her hair up in a ponytail, only a few strands falling around her face.

"Miss Singer. Please come on in," he told her with a smile as he put his pen down and took his glasses off. She slowly walked in as he stood up from his chair.

"I'm here to say goodbye," she said softly.

"Oh yeah, I heard Mrs Owens is coming back from her sickness leave, and you are actually a cop under cover looking for some sort of drug traffic in this high school," he told her as she realized the lie the Winchesters had given for the people in the bus had already reached everyone's ears pretty quickly. "That's a shame, you would have made a really good teacher," she gave him an attempted smile.

"I just wanted to say… I wish I had a teacher like you back when I was in High School," she told him as she looked into his eyes.

"Thank you, I'm touched," he said with a kind smile. He scanned her face for a few seconds. "Was it that hard? Your high school experience?" She was taken aback as she stared at him.

"Pretty much," she just said nodding her head.

"But, I guess it all turned out better after then? You obviously became an intelligent young woman who overcame all of that."

"I suppose I… I suffered through that and it got better," she replied remembering what Sam had said the previous night to Dirk.

"It's what I try to make my students understand," he told her as he nodded. "It's hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel, but there really is a light. Whether it's in school or in life in genral. Sometimes, we're just the ones looking on the wrong way or even keeping our eyes closed. But once we change that, we can get out of there. We just need to put ourselves out a bit more everyday until we reach that light at the end of the tunnel," he said gently and she looked at him with tears forming in her eyes before she noticed him glance at the doorway. Sam was standing there.

"I better go," she replied avoiding Sam's gaze as she looked at Mr Wyatt. "Thank you again. I wish you the best."

"Back at you." He gave her a gentle smile as she walked to the doorway passing Sam whose eyes were glued to her. Once she stepped in the hallway, she met Dean there. He was staring at her in a way that was clear for her. He had heard her conversation with Mr. Wyatt just as his little brother.

"I thought you were gonna wait in the car," she said as she walked down the hallway, followed by him.

"Sammy wanted to see his teacher," he told her as she kept walking. "Kaitlin, wait!"

"I don't wanna talk about anything, Dean," she replied.

"Kaitlin, I heard you and I-"

"Dean, drop it!" She said turning around to look at him. "You had absolutely no right to listen to my private conversation with Mr. Wyatt!"

"Oh and you had every right to listen to my private conversation with my brother!" He said as loudly as her, referring to when he confessed about Hell to his brother more than a month ago.

"Because I acted as a fucking snoop doesn't give you the right to do the same," she told him as she stared at him with anger.

"You know what? Let's pretend none of this happened," he told her as he made an invisible line with his hands before walking ahead of her towards the exit door.

* * *

><p>Dean grabbed his bottle of cheap but strong whiskey on the floor as he was sitting on his bed. Sam had fallen asleep on the bed right next to his, almost an hour ago. Dean glanced at him before he stared at the bottle in his hands as he unscrewed it in the darkness of the room. He brought it to his lips and stopped as he remembered the brown-head who had taken it from him <em>that<em> night. He put it down as he let out a long exhale and stood up from his bed, rubbing a hand down his face. He couldn't stop seeing her face as she shouted at him in the hallway this afternoon. Her eyes were filled with tears and she hadn't wanted anyone to talk to neither him nor his brother when they were in the Impala. Sensing the tension in the air and knowing why it was there, Sam had suggested they would stay one last night at the same motel before hitting the road the next morning. It wasn't a bad idea, because truthfully Dean wasn't sure he could drive hours in a car with a tension as thick as the one that appeared this afternoon.

The dirty-blond man walked to the end of his bed, took his boots and put them on before leaving the room. He was hit by the coldness quickly as he stood there in a simple white tee-shirt and a pair of jogging pants. He walked to his left, passing three rooms and stopped. He looked at the door of _her_ room. He assumed she was asleep by now, but still, he knocked on her door. Lightly enough so if she was truly asleep she wouldn't open the door. He waited for a few seconds, and then shook his head as he started to walk away, realizing how stupid his idea was. The sound of the door unlocking and opening made him stop and spin around.

Her snow white face surrounded by a wild curly mess of her hair, appeared in front of his eyes. He glanced down noticing that she was wearing a simple grey tank top and a pair of shorts that seemed familiar. When his green eyes met her brown eyes, he was sure she hadn't slept at all.

"You shouldn't open without asking who's at the door," was the only thing he found to tell her as she stood in the doorway.

"I saw you in the peerhole," she replied and he nodded. "What are you doing here, Dean?"

"I…," he started but frowned as he realized he had veritably no idea what he wanted to tell her. "I just…" Kate pushed the door open and motioned to him to come on in. He let out a sigh as he walked in. She closed and locked the door before turning around to find him staring at his feet in the middle of the room. "Kaitlin, I wanted to apologize for earlier…" She stared at him. "I should be the first one to understand when someone doesn't wanna open up about some stuff," he looked up and immediately met her eyes. "I just really wanted to help…"

"I know the feeling," she replied in a little voice as she gave him a little smirk. He let out a light chuckle, nodding his head as he glanced at her bed. Two books were open on the nightstand, and what seemed to be a journal was there too.

"Couldn't sleep either?" He said nodding his head at the nightstand.

"Not really," she admitted and he looked down at the shorts she was wearing. He frowned as he realized why they looked so familiar.

"Those shorts are mine, right?"

"Hum, yeah," she replied as she looked down at the shorts. "They're pretty comfortable... Dean, I…" He looked up at her face as she stopped. She took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling before looking right back in his eyes. "I've had a pretty hard time in high school," she said as he looked at her attentively. "And I'm aware that it's far less hard than what you had to go through your whole life, but…"

"Hey," Dean whispered as he approached her slowly. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to…" He looked down at her as she looked up at him. "I just wanted you to know that… You're not alone, Kaitlin."

"Will you…" She started before she bit her lips together and shook her head.

"What?"

"No, nothing," she said shaking her head again.

"Kaitlin, tell me," he told her as he fixed her face.

"Will you stay with me?" She breathed out "Until I fall asleep?"

"Sure," he told her as he walked to the little chair in the closest corner of the room and Kate stared at him confused. He sat down and bit on her bottom lip.

"I meant… If you could sleep with me?"

"Sleep… You want to sleep-" He stuttered as he stared at her surprised. Kate realized he had misunderstood her.

"No! No, no, no. I mean sleeping sleeping. The calm and innocent version of sleeping."

"Oh, yeah. I got it," he nodded as he stood up nodding his head.

"Alright," Kate said awkwardly as she stared at him before she turned around and walked to her bed. She pulled the blankets down and slid in. Dean stared at her and took a deep breath as he walked towards her. He pulled his feet out of his boots and glanced at her as he saw her closing the books and the notebook put on the nightstand. He rearranged the second pillow that was next to hers, patted a few times before he felt her stare at him. He slowly slid under the blankets and laid on his back. Kate laid on her back, her head turned to watch him as his whole body was rigid while he was staring up at the ceiling. "You know, Dean, if you don't feel comfortable-"

"What?" He cut her off before giving an obviously fake scoff. "I'm good-I'm fine. Very comfortable, yeah."

"You don't really give me that impression," she told him before sitting up. "Look, this was a real bad idea. I have no idea how I even dared asking you to stay in my bed until I fall asleep," she shook her head.

"No, no," Dean said as he sat up. "It's just that I'm not used to all those kind of things… I got it that you wanted me to hold you in my arms like you did with me that night," he said and she looked at him. "But I-I've never really done this kinda things, you know? I mean the first and last time I ever spent a whole night holding a woman in my arms with no sexy actions was with you…"

"What about you don't hold me in your arms?" She suggested and he frowned. "You could just be here until I fall asleep."

* * *

><p>Sam opened his eyes and rolled around in his bed, only to find the other bed empty. He frowned and realized that Dean had certainly gone out to find a bar or some girl to hook up with. He yawned and stretched in his bed before he grabbed his cellphone and realized he had only been sleeping for three hours. He rubbed his eyes and was going to put his cellphone back on the nightstand before he changed his mind. He scrolled through the names, and stared at <em>hers<em>. He wanted to call her because he was used to talk to her when Dean wasn't around. He knew it was stupid since she was staying just a few rooms away, but he wouldn't dare going to her room at this time of the night. He wanted to hear her voice and he needed to know what was wrong with her. He needed to know what made her have that kind of conversation with Mr. Wyatt. He was very concerned about what might have happened to her in her past that she hadn't told him. He took a deep breath and phoned her. If she wanted to talk, she would answer the call, otherwise he'll just see her tomorrow morning.

One ring. Two. Three. Four. It went to the automatic voicemail making him sigh as he put his phone down and looked up at the ceiling remembering how he had Ruby to kill the demon who had seen her soul back at Bobby's weeks ago. He sat up and took his phone as he dialed another number.

"My dear little Sammy, you missed me?"

"Ruby, can you meet me in twenty minutes?" He said before he gulped. "I need it."

"For you, I'll make it to your place in ten minutes," he could hear the smirk through the phone before he hung up.

* * *

><p>"Okay, so favourite dessert then?" Kate asked Dean as they were laid to their sides so they could face each other in her bed. They left a good space between them making it impossible for them to even brush the other. It made things immediately less uncomfortable. And then, Kate had started asking questions him that had absolutely nothing to do with his hunting job. They had been talking and getting to know each other more, for more than two hours now.<p>

"Pie," he replied with a smirk.

"What about chocolate charlotte?" She told him and he frowned his eyebrows.

"What the fuck is that thing? Anyways, nothing's better than pie."

"It's true that pie is pretty delicious," she whispered. "But chocolate charlotte is not bad either."

"You know what? When we get back to Bobby's, you should bake me a pie and a chocolate charlotte, and I'll be the judge of that," he told her as she let out a yawn while giggling.

"I can't do that. I'm a bad cook," she told him as she brought her hand up to rub her eyelids while Dean stared at her face.

"I imagined you as the perfect housewife who could cook," he told her smirking as she looked at him putting her hand under her pillow.

"I'm far from it," she replied with a little smile. "Oh and favourite colour? You never said."

"Well, I don't…" he started before he stopped himself as he looked into her light brown eyes that seemed to twinkle with the simple light coming from the moonlight through the curtains. She had beautiful brown eyes, there was no possible denying of that. "Brown."

"Brown?"

"Brown."

"No one's favourite colour is brown," she replied while she felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier as she blinked many times in a couple of seconds.

"You're falling asleep?" He asked her in a whisper as she softly nodded. "Then go to sleep, Kaitlin." She rolled over, giving her back to him and closed her eyes.

"Why do you keep calling me Kaitlin?" She asked him in a whisper after a moment of silence.

"Because I like it," he replied in a gentle whisper as he inched closer to her, tenderly reaching around her waist with one of his hand. Almost completely asleep, she snuggled against him as he held her in his arms. Slowly she fell asleep, as he held her safely in his arms.

"Goodnight, Kaitlin."

* * *

><p><span><strong>Author's note :<strong>

**A huge and sincere thank you to all of you dear readers who take a little of their time to leave me a review. You need to know that you are the ones who truly keep me writing everytime I've got some free time! And whenever, I feel uninspired I just go back to read your reviews, and they really give me the strength to overcome the moments my muse just leave me alone. So yeah, really thank you. Your reviews are much more appreciated than you can imagine!**

**As promised, you've got this new chapter sooner than usual since I feel like I gave you a very crappy chapter last time… I truly hope that you've enjoyed this new chapter and that my spelling mistakes, typos and all those stuff I do, are not that many in here because I didn't have time to check everything out…**

**Anyways, tell me what you thought of this chapter and please let me know if you want to see something in particular. By the way, dear Imou, I added your brilliant idea to use Matt to make Dean jealous a bit ;)**

**Please leave a review !**

**Have a very nice week and take care of yourself,**

**A.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Season 4 Episode 14 "Sex and Violence".**

_**One day later.**_

_**Bedford, Iowa.**_

Dean and Sam were walking in the hospital hallway ready to meet Kate, after they had talked with Dr Cara Roberts. They were both wearing their federal suits that Kate had said fitted them so well. They had suggested for her to pretend to be a federal agent along with them, but she had refused. Not a day ago, she was pretending to be a French teacher, and she had found it awfully hard to say lies that made her sound legit. Besides, she was quite sure that it was easier to pretend to be a teacher than to be a federal agent. Although she had already watched a few television shows about cops and undercover missions, she knew she could make a slip that will be a simple giveaway that she wasn't a real agent. The boys hadn't insisted, and had offered to drop her off at Bobby's while one of them stayed here to advance on this case where men killed their wives, but she had refused. She wanted to help with the researches, and even if she hadn't told them, she wanted to spend a little bit more time with them.

All those days talking on the phone with Sam Winchester had made her realize that she really liked the young man. He was funny, easy to talk to and very friendly. Sure, she hadn't spent as much time talking with Dean as she had talking with Sam, nevertheless her time with Dean was always very sincere and deep. And after spending the night getting to know the man behind the hunter a bit more in Fairfax Indiana, Kate had seen that he was as easy to hang on with as his brother. She liked and trusted those two young men a lot. After all, she had been in this universe for about two months, and the only persons she truly knew were the Winchester brothers, Bobby, Pamela, Rufus and Matthew.

"Come on!" Kate said as she slapped the vending machine, forcefully.

"Miss, could you please stop hitting that machine?" A nurse said as she walked by her. Kate, in her simple dark pair of jeans, converse shoes and white long-sleeved tee-shirt, turned her head to look at the nurse.

"My orange juice is stuck in there," She replied as she pointed at the machine when an old man walked to talk with the nurse. Kate sighed as she turned her attention back at the vending machine. She let out a long sigh, blowing the strand of hair on her face away before it came back right on her face. She put the strands that wouldn't stay in her ponytail behind her ears, and decided to shake the vending machine more when the nurse walked away with the man.

"One emptied his IRA, the other, his kids' college fund, all on the same day," Kate heard Dean's voice say, but it didn't really pull her attention away from the vending machine as she gripped her arms around the machine and held her body against it while trying to move it enough to make the orange juice can drop.

"Live nude girls?" She heard Sam's voice when suddenly there was no more talking. She felt watched, so she slowly turned her to the left to see Sam and Dean stopped in track as they looked at her gripping the vending machine.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dean asked her.

"I wanted some orange juice, but it got stuck," she replied as Sam walked to her. She pulled her arms away and stepped back as he gave one hit on the top of the vending machine. The orange juice can dropped in the machine and Kate's face lighted up like a Christmas tree. He bent down and got it out before turning around and handing it to her. "Sam Winchester, you're my hero." He sniggered before the three of them walked out of the hospital.

"So yeah, as I was saying it's a club called 'The Honey Wagon'," Dean said looking up at his brother while the brunette was walking between them.

"These guys have affairs too, with a stripper also known as Jasmine?" Sam asked as Kate opened her can and motioned it to Sam, as to ask him if he wanted some, but the young man just shook his head with a little smile. Kate shrugged as she took a long sip.

"Yes and no," Dean replied as he put his left hand in his pocket and held up the pointer finger of his right hand. "This is where it gets interesting. Each guy hooked up with a different chick."

"So, what? These girls all connected somehow?" Sam asked as Kate listened to them carefully.

"Well, they all described their stripper in the same way, the exact same way. Perfect, and everything that they wanted," Dean explained and Kate scoffed.

"Yeah, at least until dream Barbie convinced them to murder their wives," she said and Dean glanced at her nodding his head.

"There's that."

"You know guys, it's almost like they were under some kinda love spell," Sam told them.

"Sure seems that way," Dean agreed.

"Which caused them to become totally psychotic," Kate said shaking her head. "Usually on tv, magic spells aren't this messed up."

"Well, yeah, again welcome to our world," Dean told her as they approached the beautiful Impala, pulling the keys out of his pocket. Sam and Kate couldn't help notice the rather enthusiastic tone in Dean's voice.

"You seem pretty cheery," Sam told him as he stood next to Kate, ready to get in the car.

"Strippers, Sammy. Strippers. We're on an actual case involving strippers. Finally!" Dean exclaimed with a smile before getting in his car. Sam looked down at Kate who shook her head, laughing lightly.

* * *

><p>After Dean finished talking with the manager of the club, he walked towards Sam who was waiting for him a few feet away. The green-eyed big brother couldn't help but glance at the dancers up on stage, he did a double-take when one of them took off her bra.<p>

"Any luck?" Sam asked him as Dean reached him.

"No. You?" Dean told him as they leaned on a high table.

"A little. I just talked to Kate, we officially have a theory. Well, Bobby kinda helped her through the phone too."

"Alright, so what's that theory?" Dean asked.

"Siren."

"Like Greek myth siren, the Odessy?" Dean said looking at his brother who gave him a surprised look. "Hey, I read!"

"Yeah, actually. But the siren's not actually a myth, it's more of a beautiful creature that preys on men, enticing them with their siren song," Sam explained.

"Let me guess, _'Welcome to the Jungle_'? No, no. Warrant's _'Cherry Pie_'!"

"Kate said their song is more of a metaphor, like...like their call, their allure, you know?" Sam told Dean who was staring at the strippers.

"So they shake their thing and the guys zombie out," Dean said as he glanced at his brother.

"Basically, yeah. Sirens lived on islands, sailors would chase them, completely ignoring the rocky shores...and dash themselves to pieces."

"Sounds like Adam and his buddies," Dean said as his eyes followed a waitress wearing very little clothing as she passed him by.

"Yeah. If you were a siren in '09 looking to ruin a bunch of morons, where would you set up shop?"

"So whatever floats the guy's boat, that's what they look like?" Dean asked as he turned his full attention to his brother.

"Yeah. According to Kate, sirens can read minds. They see what you want most and then they can kinda, like, cloak themselves. You know, like an illusion," Sam explained to him.

"So it could all be the same chick? Morphing into, uh, to different dream girls?" Dean asked realizing that the murders must have been done by the one same creature.

"Yeah, actually. Probably. Sirens are usually pretty solitary," Sam replied nodding his head.

"Did Kate find out how we kill them?" Dean asked.

"Well, no. She said Bobby's working on it 'cause she doesn't have enough things to dig in. But even if we figure that out..." Sam said.

"How the hell are we gonna find it? It could be anybody," Dean finished as another waitress passed them by. Dean's head snapped at Sam with an expression that made Sam frown confusedly.

"What?"

"I think I've got a good idea," Dean told him with a smirk.

* * *

><p>"No! No, no and no," Kate exclaimed as she stood up from one of the two beds she was sitting on, doing research.<p>

"Oh come on, Kaitlin," Dean said sighing as he was standing in the middle of the room, still wearing his federal suit as Sam had gone to the bathroom to take his off.

"I said no, Dean," she told him shaking her head. "There's absolutely no way I'm gonna play a stripper!"

"A waitress, not a stripper!" He told her as she took Sam's laptop and brought it to the table near the window, where laid a few books she had went through earlier while they were out.

"In this kind of club, waitresses are as naked as the strippers on stage!" She shot back.

"No, that's not really true," he said shaking his head as she turned around and stared at him. "You'll be able to decide what to wear," she crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at him with rose eyebrows, knowing far well that he was lying to her.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, really," he replied. "Besides, without you we won't be able to find that siren before she does any other damage."

"That's not true," Sam said as he walked out of the bathroom, his federal suit in his arm as he was now wearing a pair of simple black jogging pants and a white t-shirt. "We can find the siren by just sitting there and observe everyone."

"But it will be easier to have someone undercover in the club," Dean told Sam who hung his suit shrugging. Dean sighed as he turned to Kate who was staring at him. "Look, if you go there undercover, you'll be able to know which woman is the siren. And you'll just have to call us and we'll be there in the blink of an eye to gank that bitch."

"Bobby said not to put me in any dangerous situations," she said and Sam snickered as he walked to his bed.

"Now, you're using that as an excuse? I thought you wanted us to ignore this particular order of Bobby?" The younger Winchester told her.

"That was because you didn't want me to do anything back in Fairfax," she replied as she looked at him above Dean's shoulder.

"And now, we want you to do something," Dean said making her look up at him. "Something that might save a lot of people," he added trying to convince her.

* * *

><p>That night, Kate had been the first one to fall asleep, exhausted by the huge amount of research she had done. Dean had ordered two pizzas for dinner which made her very happy, even though she believed he did this to make her accept to go undercover in the strip-club. While having dinner, their conversation had mainly turned around the case until Sam had asked her if she was getting any closer in her research to get back home. She had shrugged, telling them that for now Bobby and she were stuck at the same square. The problem of finding the right time and the right universe to go to, was very hard to solve. She had told them that before joining them on the case in their high school, Bobby had given her a magical bracelet. It was a simple leather bracelet in which a little precious rock was inlayed. The rock was the magic part of that bracelet, and it was a protection against demons possession, but it also had the power to form some kind of filter perception all over her soul, making it less appealing to all the creatures who could see her soul easily. Kate had said that Bobby had told her this idea was Sam's, which surprised Dean who hadn't heard about it at all. Sam had shrugged it off, saying he had thought about it after what happened with Anna. Kate had asked them if it was true that they had protection tattoos, to which Sam nodded pointing at his tee-shirt covered strong torso. Talking about protection tattoos somehow had made them find out that she had a tattoo, but she had refused to tell them where it was or what it looked like. Of course, Dean had spent at least half an hour trying to figure it out but she kept saying she wouldn't say a word, until they decided to call it a night.<p>

It was three in the morning when the brunette woke up. Groans and moans getting louder and louder had woken her up suddenly. Laid on the couch, she opened her eyes, rubbed them and looked over at the two beds. Sam was snoring in his sleep while Dean was groaning. She could only see the frame of the boys in the darkness of the room. She sat up when a louder groan came out of Dean's lips. The hunter was moving in his bed, and his groans were turning more into some pleads. She understood that he was certainly having a nightmare about Hell. She stood up, pulled up the shorts that belonged to him, and pulled down her large grey t-shirt that was on her black tank top as she walked towards his bed.

"Dean," she whispered trying to wake him up without scaring him. He kept on groaning and as she got closer to his face, she could see he was sweating and his face was cringed up with a frown. He looked so terrified and in pain. She whispered his name again and then brought her hand down on his shoulder. All of sudden, his eyes opened as one of his hands grabbed her hand strongly. "Dean, it's me!" He looked at her, his eyes wide with fear as he tried to reconnect the dots to understand he was just having a nightmare.

"Kaitlin," he said out of breath, his hand still gripping hers forcefully but she didn't say anything about it as she was more focused on the expression all over his face.

"Yeah, it's me," she whispered softly as she leaned down "It's okay Dean. It's over." She told him and he nodded as he looked into her soft chocolate eyes. He realized he was gripping her hand so he let go.

"Sorry," he told her "I didn't want to wake you up." He avoided her gaze now as she rubbed her hand with her other.

"It's okay, I wasn't even asleep," she lied giving him a soft smile that he saw in the dark before she switched the little bedside lamp on.

"You're a bad liar," he told her as he looked up at her brown wild hair. Strands here and there, curls swirling and getting tangled together. A real wild mess, but somehow he found it cute.

"You're okay?" She asked him ignoring his comment.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he replied as he dropped his gaze to the bed he was sitting up on now.

"You're a bad liar," she mimicked him and he looked up at her. He didn't say anything as he glanced to his snoring brother at his right. He huffed before he returned his attention to Kate who had sat down next to him as she brought the hem of her tee-shirt up "Hum why are you stripping?" She didn't reply as she took her tee-shirt in her hand and gently pulled it towards his face.

Dean didn't move as he stared at her chest. She was wearing a simple tank top now and it wasn't see through but he could still tell that she wasn't wearing a bra underneath. Of course, he had already noticed that she had a nice body. She wasn't too thin and she wasn't too fat. She had the right curves at the right places. However, he knew he couldn't afford himself to think this way about her or to even fantasize about her. Bigger matters were in hands and no matter how good she looked and how good she was to the people he cared about, he couldn't afford himself of letting his defences down. Anyway, he didn't even deserved it.

When he felt her shirt being pressed up on his forehead gently, he realized she was wiping the sweat away from his face. He was frozen at this. His eyes were now glued to her face as she wiped the sweat on his cheeks. She was avoiding his gaze as she quietly kept on taking care of him. He couldn't help but have so much questions rushing in his head, that he wasn't able to even try answer one himself. No women had ever done this to him. Truth be told, no women had ever done half the things she had done to him. It was bizarre, and he had no idea of how to react.

"Do you want me to bring you some water?" She asked him, pulling him out of his thoughts as she finished wiping the sweat away. Her hand was still holding her tee-shirt near his face, though. It was actually right in the crook where his neck and right shoulder met and he could smell her natural scent. He had never noticed but she smelled a mix of vanilla and something else he couldn't point a finger at.

"Why are you whispering?" He asked her.

"Aside from the fact that Sam's asleep?"

"Sam's a heavy sleeper," he told her and she glanced at Sam before looking at Dean and shrugging.

"Out of habit then, maybe?" She kept whispering while Dean kept talking lowly but not enough to call it a whisper.

"No," he sighed.

"No? Not out of habit?" She asked as she frowned her eyebrows.

"No, I don't want you to bring me water," he told her and she nodded as she put her hands back down to her lap and rubbed her hand. He looked down at her hands and then he closed his eyes as he swallowed. Seeing that he had hurt her _again_, reminded him of his nightmare. It reminded him of Hell.

"Dean-"

"I'm fine, I just-I just need something stronger than water," he cut her off as he grabbed the bottle of whisky that was right on the floor next to his bed. She looked at him as he opened it and she quickly put her hand on it, stopping him. "Kate-"

"No, Dean. You can't always do that," she interrupted him in a whisper that held some sort of mothering tone. "You're choosing the facility and you think you' helping yourself, but you're just screwing yourself up more."

"We've already talked about it," he told her as he pulled the bottle to his mouth.

"I don't care. I'm not letting you get yourself drunk to deal with a nightmare." He looked at her, holding the bottle in one of his hands.

"So you have a better way to make me deal with this memory of Hell?" He asked her sarcastically after clenching his jaw. She opened her mouth to say something but he stopped her "Everything except talking about it." She closed her mouth and he made a little scoffing sound as he stood up shaking his head and walked to the bathroom.

She stared at the bathroom's door, still sitting down on his bed and waited. While she had been having no memory of her dreams for more than a month now, Dean kept on remembering his nightmares and his memories all the time. She wished she could make him forget it all. When the bathroom door opened, Dean sighed as he saw she hadn't left his bed.

"Look, Kaitlin, you don't have to do anything. You can just go back to sleep, I promise I won't get myself drunk and I won't scream in my sleep," he told her in a whisper as she looked up at him, stood up and grabbed his hand before leading him back to the bathroom. "Woah, what are you doing?" He asked her as she switched on the light and shut the door behind her. She stayed in front of the door as she looked up at him. He was watching her, puzzled as to what she was doing.

"You didn't scream," she said in a little voice. "That's the worst I think." He frowned as she spoke her words quietly. "You were moving around in your bed and you were moaning... _pleading_. And you looked so... Terrified and hurting… I thought it was a simple nightmare, but there isn't simple nightmare anymore is there? It's all things that really happened in Hell, right?"

"Yeah."

"It's taken me some time to understand but, I get it clearly now… I get why you are so convinced that no one can help you. It's simply because _no one can help you_," she said as she looked down at her hands. A silence fell between them as he stared at her. Her face that looked so delicate as opposed to her wild hair, was holding a whole deep sincerity that he had heard in her voice. And once again, he realized how peace-bringer she was, even after what she had just told him; _especially_ after what she had just told him. For once, someone understood that no matter what they did, they couldn't help him. _When you can, you have people that wanna help. You're not alone… All I'm trying to do, is make you understandthat you're not alone… You can let it go…_

He made the little step between the porcelain bathtub and himself, and sat down on the edge of it.

"It's not just when I'm sleeping. Sometimes, I've got visions when I'm awake doing the simplest things as brushing my teeth or even drive down the road. It's always there in the back of my head... It never goes away... Hell never goes away. I-I don't regret saving my little brother, I will _never_ regret saving him. But... But the price... The price was too hard, too painful... It broke something in me... I can feel it, this broken thing in me... But, sometimes I can't even feel it. Sometimes, I can't feel anything anymore. And that's when memories come back flooding," he said his voice low and filled with pain, as he brought his hand up and tapped on his temples "In there. It's always in there and if it weren't for Sammy, I would have gone crazy..." Kate was now staring at him with tears formed in her eyes and he was a bit embarrassed to see her tearing up. "But you know, it's okay it's-" He started to say trying to regain his hard mask and make it all seem like if it was nothing, but Kate didn't let him the chance to finish as she walked quickly to him and wrapped her arms around him suddenly.

She hugged him tightly as she was standing between his legs while he was still sitting on the edge of the tub. He felt a bit embarrassed. They had only hugged twice ever since he met her. The first time was when she helped him to sleep, and the second time was, well, when he helped her to sleep. Now, they were in the bathroom, not in bed ready to fall asleep. It felt strange, but it wasn't uncomfortable. As a matter of fact, it felt good. It felt comforting and reassuring. Like always. He managed to bring his arms up and to wrap them around her waist. He put his head down on her shoulder, his face getting caressed by her soft wild hair while he closed his eyes.

"It's not okay now but it's gonna be okay," she whispered to him "It's gonna be okay, Dean. I promise before I make it back to my universe, everything will be fixed." His eyes opened as he remembered she was only with him right now, because they had found a case while driving back to Bobby's, and she had wanted to stay for this one. After this hunt, she was going to go back to Bobby's and soon enough she would find a way back to her universe.

For the first time ever since she crashed into their world, he realized he didn't want her to go back to her universe. He didn't want her to go away. He tightened his grip around her at the thought.

* * *

><p>The next day, the murder of an old woman was on the newspapers so Sam decided to put on his federal suit and go check out if it was the siren again while Kate and Dean stayed in the motel room, doing some research. None of them mentioned their conversation or hug in the bathroom the night before. Kate was used for Dean to pretend nothing happened so she just went along and pretended nothing happened neither. They were around the table, silently reading through the pages of a few books Dean had taken in the library in the morning on his way to bring breakfast. They had been trying to find a way to kill the siren for hours now. Dean was exhausted and often made it clear by throwing his head back, groaning or resting his head on his arm on the table. On the other hand, Kate seemed much less tired as she kept on taking notes of what she was reading. Dean had noticed she was writing everything down in a leather journal that looked a bit like his father's journal. He had wanted to question her about it, but then he had come to the conclusion that Bobby had certainly given her this journal so she could take notes for him. Besides, they already knew that she was the kind of person who was good at research, but also wasn't bothered by it the slightest.<p>

Suddenly, Kate's phone rang which made Dean look up at her. She glanced at him before she stood up and walked towards the little couch she had slept in last night, and took her phone.

"Hey!" She answered with a smile after she saw the screen. Dean frowned as he stared at her. He couldn't hear whoever was talking on the other end of the phone but he watched carefully her body language. "Yeah, I'm good. You?... Oh great… Well, I'm in Iowa for now… Yeah, did Bobby tell you?..." She gave a really girly giggle which surprised Dean. He had already heard her giggle a few times, but never like _that_. And, she was kind of prancing around which made him even more perplexed and curious.

"Who's that?" Dean asked her and she looked at him as the person on the other end kept talking. He knew it wasn't Bobby and it couldn't be Sam since he had forgotten his cell phone here. Kate shook her head as she waved at him, and spun around to keep on talking.

"Oh well, yeah, I kinda thought if I stayed longer here, I won't have to do all those activities with you," she replied in a low voice before letting out a light laugh. Dean rolled his eyes as she walked to the bathroom and closed the door, obviously wanting to have some privacy as she talked to that stranger. Dean fixed at the bathroom's door as if trying to see through it. It irritated him a bit not to know who she was talking to. Who the hell did she know aside from him, his brother, Pamela and Bobby? Maybe it was Rufus. She had told him that she had met him and had spent some time with him too, but she couldn't be talking to him _like that_, on the phone. Sighing he tried putting his attention back to the books laying in front of him, when his eyes fell on his little brother's cell phone.

He stared at it, debating with himself whether he should go through it or not. The thing is that he had big suspicion that Sam was still seeing Ruby on his back, and he couldn't bear that. He needed to make sure that his suspicions weren't true, and that he was just imagining it all. He glanced at the motel room's door and then at the bathroom's door before reaching for the phone. Without hesitation, he scrolled through the calls his brother exchanged and was a bit surprised to find Kate's names there more than once. He found another number that wasn't saved but didn't pay it any attention, as he scrolled to older calls made. In between, his own name and Bobby's, the unsaved number appeared quite a few times but it was nothing compared to the amount of times Kate's name appeared. They had been calling each other every single day for at least half a month. Maybe more, but Sam's phone didn't show even older calls. Sam had never told him anything, and neither had Kate. He glanced at the bathroom's door, wondering what the relationship between the two exactly was.

However, when he had caught Sam talking on the phone that other morning before they made their way to this town, Kate was showering, so there was no way he was talking to her. Besides, why would she have two numbers? She wasn't a hunter with multiple phone numbers. Dean scrolled back up to the unknown number and dialled it. After two rings, he heard the voice he was praying hard not to hear answer.

"Hey, Sam...Sam?... You there...?" Ruby's voice said.

Dean didn't say a word before he hung up and clenched his jaw. He put the phone down and brought his fist up, against his lips. What was he going to do? So his brother was still seeing Ruby on his back. Was he back to drinking her blood and screwing with her too? He didn't want to believe it. He _couldn't_ believe it. It felt like a hard punch right into his guts as he realized what his brother was certainly keep doing with that demon. Upset was a too weak word to describe how he was feeling right now.

All of sudden, the frontdoor opened making him look up to see his brother walking in.

"Lenny Bristol was definitely another siren vic," Sam said as he looked around the room. "Where's Kate?"

"Bathroom, talking to some secret friend on the phone," Dean told him as he stared intensively at his brother who just frowned his eyebrows as he glanced at the bathroom's door. He decided to push aside the Ruby thing for later. "Anyways, so you got to see him?"

"Yep," Sam replied as he made a few steps to the middle of the room. "He brought home a stripper named Belle. A couple of hours later he offed his mother. Belle, of course, went MIA."

"Wait, he killed his mom?" Dean asked confused.

"The woman he was the closest too," Sam replied shrugging right when Kate walked out of the bathroom.

"Wait, I'm putting you on speaker," she said as she nodded at Sam with a smile before sitting down on one of the bed and holding her phone up. "Sam just came back."

"Alright," Bobby's voice echoed from Kate's phone.

"Hey Bobby," Sam said sitting down on the bed next to Kate, as Dean stood up to pour himself a mug of coffee.

"Hey Sam. You found her yet?"

"Ahhh, no. And, uh, it doesn't seem like she's slowing down any. You got anything?" He asked.

"Well, that's what I was saying to Kate," Bobby replied. "There's some lore from a dusty Greek poem. Shockingly, it's a little vague." Dean stood in front of Kate who was still holding her phone up, as she crossed her legs and glanced up at him. "It says you need '_a bronze dagger, covered in the blood of a soldier-_"

"Of a sailor, Bobby!" A man's voice cut him off. Kate let out a light chuckle while the boys frowned not knowing who that was belonged to. Dean sat down on his chair, facing them.

"Yeah," Bobby grumbled. "_Covered in the blood of a __**sailor**__, under the spell of the song_".

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked.

"You got me. We're dealing with 3000 years of the telephone game here," Bobby replied.

"Best guess?" Sam asked.

"Well, according to Matt here, the siren's spell ain't got nothing to do with any song," Bobby replied before the other voice spoke.

"Yeah, it's most likely some kind of toxin or venom. Something she gets in the vic's blood."

"And makes them go all Manchurian Candidate," Kate said as Dean took note on his mind, of the voice and the name of the person who talked to them. "Uh, Matt, do you think, she infects the men during sex?"

"I'm not sure," Matt replied on the other end while Dean looked at Kate's face. It was hard to decipher her almost all the time, but right now it seemed to be impossible. Dean didn't know why he wanted her to show some well emphasized expression on her face when that Matt replied to her, all he knew was that it bugged at him to not know who that guy was and what was his link to Kate.

"But, there's high chances it's the case," Bobby added.

"Supernatural STD," Dean said after a short silence. Kate snickered a laugh as she glanced at him.

"Well, however it happens, once it's done the siren's gotta watch her back. She gets a dose of her own medicine..." Bobby explained.

"It kills her," Sam said nodding his head as held his hands clasped together while staring at the floor.

"Like a snake getting iced by its own venom," Bobby replied.

"So we just gotta find a way to juice one of the OJs in jail?" Dean asked.

"Not that easy. None of those guys are under the spell anymore. Haven't got a clue where you're going to get the blood you need," Bobby gave as an answer and Kate threw her head back.

"Then, how?" She groaned.

"I think I might have an idea," Sam said thoughtfully. She turned her head to him, wondering what that was.

"Be careful. These things are tricky bitches. Wrap you up in knots before you know what hit ya," Bobby warned them. "And, Katie, you listen to those boys. Whatever they tell you to do or not to do, you listen to them, okay?" She glanced at Dean to see him smirking at her.

"Yeah," she let out in the least excited voice, knowing far well what Dean was going to tell her to do.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me, Dr. Roberts?" A man wearing a grey suit interrupted the brothers who were talking with the brown-haired doctor, trying to get her to give them some blood samples.<p>

"Yeah?" She asked turning to look at him while Dean sighed and got out his FBI badge.

"Excuse me, uh, we're a little busy here, buddy," he told him as Sam showed his badge as well.

"Yeah, so am I, pal," the man replied as he pulled out his own FBI badge. Dean and Sam gulped as they looked at the man. They hadn't planned on bumping into an actual FBI agent.

"Doc, can you give us a sec, please?" Sam asked the woman who nodded as she backed away. "Thanks."

"What's your name?" Dean asked the man when they were only the three of them.

"Nick Munroe. What's yours?"

"I'm Special Agent Sam Stiles, this is my partner Dean Murdoch. What office are you from?" Sam asked him hoping he could convince this real agent that he and his brother were real agents as well, and the case was in good hands already.

"Omaha, Violent Crimes Unit. My SAC sent me down here to see about the murders," Agent Munroe replied. "You?"

"D.C. Our Assistant Director assigned us," Dean told him.

"Oh, which AD?" Nick asked as he looked at them a bit surprised.

"Mike Kaiser," the brothers replied in sync.

"What are your badge numbers?"

"You're kidding, right?" Dean asked.

"I'm just following protocol," he told him shrugging.

"Look man, whatever. Just call our AD, he'll sort things out," Sam replied as he handed him a card. Nick took it and walked away as he dialed the number.

"We're screwed if Bobby doesn't get him off us," Dean whispered to Sam who nodded as they gave their back to the agent. Dean threw a glance at Agent Monroe, who walked to them, he slapped his brother's chest making him turn around along with him.

"No one's answering," Nick told them as he handed them the card and stared at them.

"What? No, that's…" Dean started not knowing what to say.

"That must be because of the offices' rearrangement!" Sam lied. "Maybe, I can get through his other assistant!" Nick frowned a bit as Sam pulled his phone out and dialled Kate's number.

"AD Anderson," Sam said as Kate answered the phone. He didn't let her the chance to speak as he kept going. "It's agent Sam Stiles, hum my partner Dean Murdoch and I just crossed path with another federal agent on the same case ma'am… There must be a mistake, right?"

"Just give it to me," Nick said reaching for the phone. Sam handed it to him, as he looked at his brother, fearing that Kate would blow it all up. "Hum hello, ma'am, agent Nick Munroe speaking. I'm calling about two of your men. Stiles and Murdoch? Uh, it seems that they've been put on my case by mistake?"

"Oh… Hum, may I know which office you're from?" The brothers heard Kate ask him almost hesitantly. Sam clenched his jaw as he stared at Nick whose gaze was glued to a wall.

"Sure. Omaha, Violent Crimes," he replied nodding his head.

"Oh well, Stiles and hum Murdoch told you what office they're from I suppose?"

"Yes. DC," he replied as Dean bit on his tongue as he threw a little panicked glance at Sam.

"Well, as far as I know, the DC authority is way bigger than the Omaha's, right? So, I don't understand why you're calling me. They should be the ones calling about you, agent Munroe," Dean's eyebrows rose as he heard Kate's voice say that with such stern professionalism.

"Yes, I suppose… But-"

"There's no but. You should know DC has jurisdiction so go do your job instead of wasting my time!"

"Of course, sorry, ma'am," Nick said before he handed the phone back at Sam who took it.

"I'm sorry guys," Agent Monroe said as Sam took a few steps away and put the phone on his ear.

"Katie?" He whispered.

"Sam? I didn't really know what to-" She started in a rather panicked voice.

"You were great," he cut her off with a smile. "See you later." He said before hanging up and walking towards Dean and Nick.

"Just don't let it happen again," Dean said to Nick as Sam approached them.

"So where are you at this?" Nick asked them.

"Where are you at this?" Dean asked him back emphasizing the question more.

"Well, I was just about to run the, uh, perps' bloodwork."

"I already checked, dead end," Sam replied.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Sam said when Nick took a step towards them and told them in a low voice his discovery.

"But get this. I feel like I found something that, uh, connects all the murderers."

"Really?" Sam asked as Dean eyed Nick with a hard look.

"They were all banging strippers...from the same club," Nick told them as he nodded.

"You don't say!" Dean sarcastically exclaimed.

"What do you say we, uh, go down there and check it out?" Nick suggested as Dean sighed.

"Well, here's the thing, Nick. See, we're kinda lone wolves..."

"You know what," Sam interrupted Dean who looked up at him a bit confused. "That sounds like an excellent idea. Just... just give me a second with my partner and we'll, uh...one sec," he told him as he turned his head to Dean. "Come here." They walked a bit away, just enough to be out of earshot. "Dude, you gotta stay with him."

"What?" Dean asked even more confused.

"Keep him outta the way."

"Why me?"

"Because I gotta get the blood samples," Sam gave as an excuse. Dean rolled his eyes.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with him?"

"Just take him to the strip club... You can keep an eye on Kate at the same time," Sam replied as Dean shook his head.

"Hu-hu," Dean said. "She'll kill me if I show up there!"

"No, she won't do anything, Dean."

"She will! The only reason she accepted it's because Bobby told her to listen to us and because I told her we won't go there as long as she's undercover there!"

"Dean, it'll be fine. If she asks you why you're there, tell her you gotta keep an eye out for the siren and distract that man."

"I don't know… I don't even wanna hang with that guy…"

"Come on, Dean, just... just focus on the naked girls. You'll forget he's even there," Sam said tilting his head. Dean looked up at him, and Sam knew he had convinced his brother.

"I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing it for the girls," Dean told him in a professional voice making Sam scoff.

* * *

><p>Leaned against the counter, Kate did her best not to roll her eyes for the hundredth time in less than two hours, as she was told another lame pick-up line by a middle-aged man with a weird moustache and wearing a large leather jacket that didn't suit him at all. She wasn't a big fan of fashion and only wore clothes she was comfortable in or that she found quite cute, but for sure, this man had no sense of fashion at all. He looked like a creep in this outfit, and of course in this kind of place and with the things she was wearing, there was no way to avoid this kind of creep. Mentally, she had cursed at herself multiple times to have given in to Dean's plan for her to go undercover in this strip club as waitress. He had told her that she would be able to wear whatever she wanted, but it was a complete lie. The moment she talked to the manager, he had immediately accepted to give her a try for today, but she had to accept the rules of the house, which meant she had to play along with the clients, never reject them unless they were too touchy, and she had to wear an outrageous outfit. A black tight skirt that reached her mid-thighs, a red halter-neck sleeveless top and a pair of high heels that made her 5 inches taller and made her bare legs even sexier according to the blonde barmaid. Kate felt too exposed with all this bare skin showing and she hated that. She was relieved that she had convinced them to let her wear no makeup except from a bit of red lipstick. She didn't want to have her whole face painted the same way some other girls were in that club. As much as she hated how they had made her dress up, there was one thing she was happy with. The hair style they had done to her. Some other waitress had curled her hair perfectly and had put on some hair clippers here and there, before finishing it off with some hairspray which was supposed to keep her hair this styled.<p>

"Here, you go, table 3," the blonde barmaid said bringing Kate's attention to her as the creep kept on checking her out while talking no sense with a slurring voice.

"You know the one about angel? You know... Did it hurt when you fell because you look like an angel, something like that?" He told her as she grabbed the tray with the few drinks.

"I know it, and it's not true. I know for a fact that angels don't dress like me. They're more into trench coats and suits," she told him as he frowned in confusion. She walked away, with a little smile on her lips as she realized he was going to take some time to apprehend what she had told him which meant that he was certainly not coming to her before a long time.

She approached the table three where a group of five men had their heads up, focused on the girl on stage. She put down the drinks, bending down as slightly as possible before she stood up and made a step to walk away. Suddenly, she received a bra on the top of her head. She clenched her jaw as, with her fingers she took off the bra and threw it with a fake smile at the man who was staring at her. She walked away sighing, when she heard someone calling her again.

"Miss! Miss," the voice said making her turn around. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped when her eyes landed on a very familiar face whose expression was as surprised as hers before it turned into a smirk as the green eyes travelled up and down her body.

"What..." Was all that got out of her lips as she made two steps towards him. Dean recomposed himself on his seat.

"My friend here Agent Monroe and I are gonna take two beers," Dean told her in a tone that was full of amusement. She turned her head to the other man in a suit and realized it was the man she had talked to on the phone. She gave him a fake smile and nodded as she walked away. She turned around and her gaze fell on Dean's face and Agent Monroe's back. She saw Dean tilting his head as he watched her legs and her bottom, so she put the tray on her bottom. His green eyes immediately went up to meet her eyes as she glared at him, still making her way to the bar.

Once she reached the bar, she gave the orders to the blonde barmaid who told her she was going to give her that in a couple of minutes before she walked to the other end of the bar. Kate sighed as she put the tray on the counter when suddenly a familiar voice spoke.

"So, you're new around here? Because-"

"Don't you even dare," Kate said spinning around to face him with her finger pointing at him. "Don't you dare finish this stupid pick-up line! I spent my whole time here listening to a hundred pick-up lines and that's… That's just enough."

"I'll shut up, then," he replied with an amused smile, as his eyes glanced at her lips.

"What are you even doing here, Dean? You said you wouldn't come while I'm doing this!"

"I know but we got this real fed who's stuck on our backs, so I had to keep him distracted while Sam gets a hold of the blood samples. Besides, that man is awesome, he's a big fan of classic rock, you'd love him," he replied as she brought her fingers to her eyelids and rubbed as she let out a long sigh. He couldn't help but eye her up and down appreciatively. "The teacher style looked great on you, but this definitely beats it." She pulled her hand away and glared at him.

"Couldn't you distract him elsewhere?"

"Nope, sorry, it's the only way to make him think I'm working with him on this case. Besides, I can keep an eye on the siren that way," he replied as the blonde barmaid put down the drinks and caught Dean's attention. Kate glanced at the federal agent to see him staring at the stage, before she turned her eyes back to Dean. He was giving a flirtatious smile to the barmaid which made Kate roll her eyes. Once the barmaid walked away, Dean turned his head back to Kate who was staring at him with an impatient look. He coughed and recomposed himself. "Anyways, it's also a way for me to keep an eye on you."

"I don't want any of your eyes on me."

"If I could, I would but you look just-"

"Shut up, Dean," she said shaking her head as he held back a laugh. She grabbed the two beers and handed them to him. He took them and looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Aren't you supposed to serve us?" He asked her and she glared at him so he nodded and turned around to walk away. He stopped and spun around. "By the way, do you happen to know CPR?"

"Yeah, I do. Why?" She asked, confused.

"Because you're taking my breath away," he told her with an amused smirk.

"Go away," she told him sternly as he chuckled and walked towards his table while she shook her head.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

As Dean put down the beers and sat down in front of Nick, the fed looked at him surprised.

"What happened? She rejected you?" He told Dean with a little chuckle at the end.

"Kinda yeah," Dean replied with a fake laugh as he glanced at Kate who was chatting with the blonde barmaid.

"So, what the hell with this case, man? How does a girl talk four different johns into murder?"

"It's a crazy world," Dean told him as he brought his beer up to his lips.

"I guess," Nick mumbled as he took a sip of his beer before he brought his hand up and Dean looked at him. "Hey, can I level with you?"

"Mmm," Dean said as he looked at Kate walking to a table and gathering the empty glasses.

"I found something kinda weird," Nick told him which pulled Dean's attention back to him as it stirred up Dean's curiosity.

"Well. You have bought your weird to the right spot. Lay it on me," he said as he put down his beer and leaned towards the man.

"I went to the crime scene this morning. Saw them bagging this up," he replied as he handed Dean some purple petals in a plastic bag. Dean frowned as he examined it. "So I went back, uh, through all the files. It turns out a flower just like that was found at every crime scene."

"Like it was left on purpose?" Dean asked as he looked up at him and noticed Kate walking to a table on the background.

"You know, sometimes a serial killer will leave an object behind, like a calling card. But with this case? Tell you the truth, I got no idea what's going on," Nick said shaking his head.

"I think I might. I've seen a flower like this before," Dean said as he noticed Kate making her way back to the bar. "I'll be right back," he said as he stood up and brought the plastic bag with him as he walked towards the bar. The blonde barmaid nodded at Dean making Kate turn her head towards him while the barmaid walked to the other end of the bar.

"I swear to God, you say one pick-up line and I'll-" She started.

"I think I know who the siren is," he interrupted her.

"Oh God, it's Lexy, right?" Kate said and he frowned.

"What?"

"You think that's the red-head with the fake cop outfit right? I heard she arrived a few months before the first murder-"

"Forget this Lexy, I think the hot doc did it," he interrupted her.

"The hot doc? Doctor Roberts you mean?"

"Yeah. Agent Monroe found those on the crime scene this morning, and he said the other crime scenes had the same petals," he replied as he handed her the plastic bag.

"Cherry, the second table is waiting for their drinks!" The barmaid said making Kate look at her with a nod. She handed the plastic bag back to Dean as she grabbed her tray and put the drinks on it.

"Why you think those are linked to the doctor?" Kate asked as she looked up to see a Dean looking at her with rose eyebrows and an amused smirk on his freckled face. "What, again?"

"Nothing... _Cherry_," Dean replied in a low voice. Kate rolled her eyes at him before she started to walk away with her tray as she decided to ignore him completely.

"Dean?" Nick said as he walked closer to him. "I'm going to the bathroom for a minute."

"Sure, go ahead man," Dean replied as Nick walked away and Dean turned his attention back to Kate who was putting the drinks on a table while a man in a black leather jacket and a moustache kept talking to her while she didn't say a word. All of sudden, he leaned up and whispered something to her ear. Dean's eyebrows got together as he watched the man and Kate, his whole body ready to react if the man did something inappropriate. Kate took a step back, staring at the man with a smile which made Dean confused. All of sudden, Kate took the glass with whatever cocktail the man had asked and poured him on the top of his head before turning around to walk away. The man quickly stood up and grabbed Kate's left wrist which made Dean immediately walk quickly to them. However, Dean stopped when Kate's fist landed on the man's cheek violently making him fall down on the table behind him. She turned around and walked towards him as he stared at her with surprise.

"You said you figured out who the killer is, so no need for me to keep on doing this undercover thing, right?"

"Right," he only said as she nodded at him.

"I'm gonna take my stuff, get changed and we can leave this place," she told him as she circled him and walked away. He spun around and stared at her letting out a long impressed sigh, telling himself not to tell her any other pick-up line in the future.

* * *

><p>"You're sure he won't call any other feds to check out if we're legit? I mean, meeting two feds on the same case may be okay but three, I don't think that'll pass."<p>

"Well, what was I supposed to tell him? Telling him you were an agent undercover was the only thing that popped in my head when he left the bathroom," he told her as he was driving with Kate sitting at his side, on the seat that was usually Sam's. He glanced at her as she was now wearing a pair of black denims and a simple brown long sleeved shirt under her khaki parka. It was all very different from what she was wearing earlier, and as much as Dean had enjoyed seeing her dressed in such outrageous clothes, he liked her better this way. It was much more herself.

"Do you want me to try calling Sam again?" She asked him.

"Yeah," he nodded. She dialled the number and put the phone on speaker as they heard two rings and it was suddenly answered. "Sam! Where the hell have you been?" Kate looked at Dean as he looked even more like a worried big brother than anything else at that moment.

"With Cara," Sam's voice said.

"Oh, it's Cara now? And you're not picking up your phone?" Dean told him as Kate held the phone up silently between them.

"We were trying to find the blood samples – someone stole them."

"Yeah, I bet!" Dean scoffed as Kate sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Agent Monroe found flower petals at the crime scenes. Hyacinths," Kate replied.

"So?"

"Hyacinths? Mediterranean. From the island where the whole friggin' siren myth started in the first place," Dean said to Sam.

"Okay."

"Sam, Cara had hyacinth flowers!" Dean said loudly as frustration gripped him at his brother's answer and tone of it.

"Sam, he thinks Cara is the siren," Kate explained with a much softer voice than Dean's.

"You think what?"

"Well, we did a little checking up on her. She's only been in town for two months," Dean told his brother.

"Yeah. And?"

"And she has an ex-husband. A dead ex-husband, Carl Roberts. Dropped like a stone, no warning. Supposedly a heart attack."

"Well, maybe it was a heart attack."

"You're kidding me," Dean said as Kate gave a little grimace when he glanced at her.

"Look, I just don't think it's her," Sam replied.

"Sam, could you tell us what makes you so sure?" Kate asked him gently.

"I dunno guys, a hunch."

"A hunch? I'm giving you cold hard facts here and you're giving me a hunch?" Dean exclaimed before he frowned while silence filled the car for a few seconds. Kate frowned confusedly when he glanced at her.

"Did you sleep with her?" Dean asked Sam and Kate's eyebrows rose quickly.

"No," Sam replied and Kate looked down at the phone in her hand, hearing very well the lie behind his short answer.

"Holy crap. You did. Middle of Basic Instinct and you bang Sharon Stone?" Dean shot at his brother.

"It's bigger than just that," Kate said. "You could be under her spell right now, Sam."

"Katie, I'm not under her spell-" Sam started when his brother just cut him off.

"Unbelievable, man. I just don't get it," Dean let out and Kate looked up at him confused.

"What, Dean?" Sam asked.

"Nothing."

"No. Say it," Sam insisted as Kate just looked at Dean wondering what they were talking about.

No, It's just...first it's Madison, and then Ruby, and now Cara. It's like... what is with you and banging monsters?" Dean told him and Kate's eyes got round.

"You and Ruby, Sam?" She asked with shock. She heard Sam sigh heavily on the other end of the line.

"Look, guys, it's not Cara. And I'm not under any kind of spell, okay?"

"You and Ruby? But she's a demon..." Kate breathed out, still in shock of what she had just learned.

"Can we talk about this later, Katie?" Sam said before letting out a little cough. "I feel fine, guys."

"I'll bet you do," Dean replied as Kate was still trying to assimilate the fact that Sam and Ruby have banged and may still be banging. Knowing that Ruby was a demon made it all very disgusting for Kate, no matter how much Ruby had been nice to her.

"You don't trust me, Dean?" Sam said making Kate look up at Dean as she bit on her bottom lip.

"No. Because this could be the siren talking," Dean replied.

"Look, tell me where you are, I'll come meet you and we'll figure things out," Sam said, his tone a bit exasperated with his brother' suspicion.

"No."

"No?" Kate asked, puzzled as she looked at Dean wondering why he was acting this way.

"Are you serious?" Sam asked.

"I wish I weren't. I gotta handle this, Sam," he replied as he glanced at Kate. "Kate and I gotta handle this, without you." He suddenly took Kate's phone and hung up on Sam.

"What the hell, Dean?" She asked him as he tossed her phone to her.

"Just call Bobby," he told her as he looked at the road with a hard look.

"Dean-"

"Damn Kate, just do as you're told!" He shouted at her. Kate jumped a little bit in her seat, taken aback by the sudden outburst. She licked her lips and pressed them together as she looked down at her phone and dialled Bobby's number. She handed him the phone and he looked at her, noticing how she avoided his gaze completely. He took it, sighing.

After a few rings, it was Bobby's voicemail that Dean reached. He sighed before leaving him a message. "Sam's in trouble, Bobby. I think the siren's worked her mojo on him. Give me a call as soon as you get this." He hung up and turned his head to look at Kate who was staring at the outside through the window on her right. He sighed as he put her phone down on the space of the front seat between them. He took his phone out of his jacket pocket and dialled another number, his eyes glancing more than once at the brunette sitting in silence next to him.

"Hey man, what's up?" The voice of Agent Monroe pulled his attention back to his phone.

"I need your help," Dean told him.

"Uh, sure. With what?"

"Canvassing. We gotta find somebody," Dean replied as he threw a glance at Kate. "I'm gonna drop my colleague somewhere, and I'll see you later."

* * *

><p>Kate was folding her clothes and putting them back in her duffle bag quietly. Dean had dropped her off at the motel, and had told her he would be back later, to which she hadn't replied much. He warned her not to call Sam until he came back and told her he had fixed everything up. She hadn't been very talkative as she accepted and went to the room they were sharing. She had spent half an hour writing down everything they had found out about the sirens, in her leather journal where she had written down other creature information. Everything was put in an alphabetical order and she had thought of giving it to Bobby before going back to her universe. She was thinking of writing an index of how the creature killed its victim, so Bobby would be able to find which creature it was by only knowing how the creature kills. She was sure Bobby would love her departure gift, and he deserved it after trying so hard to keep her safe and to send her back home. Suddenly, she remembered that she hadn't put down the presence of those flowers in the crime scene. She put down the tee-shirt she was folding and grabbed her journal. She turned the pages as she walked towards the table, to take the pen laying there. She arrived to the section about the sirens and started reading the last lines she had written down when she stopped as a thought crossed her mind. <em>How did the siren convince the men to do that exactly?<em> She decided to read everything she had written down once again and frowned. _Surely, the siren had drugged them. But how? _She asked herself as she bit on her bottom lip and tried to think harder.

"They had sex together so maybe it really is the supernatural STD..." She mumbled to herself. "No... Maybe they were wearing protections..." She rubbed her forehead as she started pacing back and forth in the room. "It has to be physical contact... Not necessarily sex... But definitely not simple hand touching..." She abruptly stopped in the middle of the room. "Saliva!"

She quickly walked to her cellphone and dialled Dean's phone to tell him what she had just figured out. It rang once and she frowned when she heard the ringtone echoing not far away. She turned around to find Dean and Agent Monroe walking in. She looked at Dean as she hung up. There was a weird and not reassuring at all expression all over his face. He looked almost emotionless.

"Dean?" She asked in a little voice as she glanced at the federal agent who closed the door and locked it.

"Dean, wouldn't it be better if we could wait for Sam on our own?" Agent Monroe said making Kate frown in pure confusion as Dean stared at Kate with a dark look. She looked at the federal agent, quickly understanding what was happening.

"You're the siren," she let out in a breath as he smirked and nodded his head.

"And you're gonna sleep," he told her.

"What?" She asked as Dean walked towards her, making her turn her head to him as she took a few steps back until she hit the table. "Dean, you can take control over him! Dean, listen to me-" She said when he suddenly threw a punch at her face but she quickly ducked down and moved away, avoiding his punch swiftly. She saw the butter knife on the counter of the little kitchen and grabbed it, ready to stab the siren. No matter how quick she was, she still received a hard hit on her forehead when she spun around and fell down on the floor, unconscious.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"Zachariah! You've gotta wake up right now!" Kate shouted as she found herself in the middle of that familiar fancy room she always forgot about when she woke up.

"Kate!" His voice exclaimed making her spin around and walk towards him. "I wasn't expecting you-"

"You need to make me wake up now," she told him as she approached him. He frowned.

"Do I really _need _to do that?" He said thoughtfully.

"Dean is in danger!" She told him and he looked down at her.

"Is he? I'm pretty sure you're the one in danger. I mean he's just under a spell that makes him obey completely to an entity and you're unconscious," he told her in a casual tone. She frowned as she stared at him.

"What the hell? Why are you saying this?" She asked him as he walked away and sat down at a little table with two very fancy chairs.

"I think time has come, Kate," he told her as he looked up at her with a stern look.

"What do you mean?" She asked, completely confused.

"We've been talking about everything for a long time now. You know all the seals that have to be stopped from breaking. You learned where all of them are, you have to stop them from being broken," he told her as a bottle of champagne appeared along with two champagne glasses. He reached for the champagne and poured some in the two glasses. He stood up with the two glasses and made his way towards her. "Of course you must keep your cute little mouth shut about our little rendez-vous," he gave her a smirk as he handed her the champagne glass but she didn't move the slightest as she just stared at him. "What I'm saying is: congratulations, you are going to remember everything! Especially, what I showed you when you started to misbehave." Her eyes got big with terror as he took a long sip of his champagne.

;;;;;;;;;;

A throbbing pain appeared in Kate's head as she opened her eyes suddenly. She moaned in pain and tried to move around only to realize she couldn't. She turned her head to look at her arms and legs, and noticed that she was taped to one of the beds, with ropes tightly tied around her wrists and ankles.

"Oh sleeping beauty is up." Kate turned her head back to Nick Monroe- the siren- who had spoken. He was sitting on the couch. Her gaze moved to the man standing in the middle of the room, staring at her in silence.

"Dean," Kate said ready to try to talk Dean back to reason, but she stopped when a violent wave of pain hit her. She let out a scream, her eyes shut as forcefully as her fists. The siren frowned as he stood up.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked her as she started crying uncontrollably and arched her body on the bed. Dean's eyebrows frowned slightly as he stared at Kate in silence. "Dean, make her shut up!" He said as Dean started to walk towards Kate, raising the knife in his hand. "Don't kill her, yet," he told Dean as he untied his tie before throwing it at Dean. "I'm sure we can have some fun with her later. But just make her shut up."

Dean walked towards the crying woman, he reached his hand under her head and brought the tie around. She opened her eyes and looked at the emotionless face before looking away as she cried even harder.

Not only was she remembering every encounters she had been having with that angel in her sleep, but she was also, or rather _mostly_ was remembering all the memories he had shown her from Dean's time in Hell. She remembered the terrible, raw and extreme pain she had felt when that angel made her go through all of this because she had shown some kind of disrespect. It was even more awfully distressing to remember it all suddenly now. The aching pain of all those memories was unbearable, and Kate felt like her whole body was slowly and vigorously burning and reliving all the tortures Zachariah had made her go through. There weren't as many as the ones Dean had to go through when in Hell, but that didn't made them any less painful.

"You know what, Dean? I've seen the way you looked at her when we were in the strip club," Agent Monroe said as Dean finished tying the tie around Kate's head. "Desire and lust were filling you completely, which made it quite hard for me to see what you would truly want. But, your love for your brother has always been stronger than your attraction for this girl. Hell, it has always been stronger than anything else!" He stopped and sighed. "This is why I think we don't really need her. Killing your brother is the priority." Kate stopped crying suddenly as she looked at Agent Monroe with wide eyes before looking up at Dean.

All of sudden, the motel's room lock was turning so Monroe motioned to Dean to hide behind the door so he could attack the intruder, which Dean obliged in two seconds. The door opened and Sam made two steps in as his eyes fell on Kate taped to the bed.

"What-" Sam started when suddenly the door was slammed shut behind him and his brother held him from behind with the knife on his throat. "Dean?! What the hell?!" Sam's gaze turned to Kate with concern as he looked at the young woman taped to the bed, tears all over her face and a little bleeding cut on her forehead. "What did you do to her?!" He shouted as he looked at Agent Monroe.

"Oh, we haven't started anything yet," he replied casually. Sam looked at him with a strong anger irritating from his whole body.

"I gotta tell ya, you're one butt ugly stripper," Sam said as he glanced at Kate before looking back at the siren. "But you'll be one _dead_ butt ugly stripper once I'm done with you."

"You sound so sure of yourself," he told him as he walked to the middle of the room. "But you know what? I got exactly what I wanted. I got Dean."

"Dean, come on man, this isn't you," Sam said as he turned his eyes back to his brother who was holding a knife against his throat even more forcefully. Meanwhile, Kate started to try freeing her wrists from the ropes, keeping her mind focused on getting off that bed and killing Nick Monroe before he got Dean to kill Sam. "You can't do this to Kate... You can fight this. Let me go."

"Why don't you cut him? Just a little, on his neck right there," the siren said making Dean slice Sam's neck in a swift movement without any hesitation. Kate glanced at them as she kept on trying to free herself silently.

"Dean's all mine."

"You poisoned him," Sam said as fury rose more and more in him.

"No. I gave him what he needed. And it wasn't some bitch in a G-string. I mean it wasn't even this crazy bitch on the bed," Agent Monroe told him, his eyes staring into his. "It was you. A little brother that looked up to him, that he could trust. And now he loves me. He'd do anything for me. And I gotta tell you, Sam, that kind of devotion? I mean, watching someone kill for you? It's the best feeling in the world." Kate kept on struggling as she felt the ropes getting a bit loose.

"Is that why you're slutting all over town?" Sam asked him.

"Ahh. I get bored, like we all do. And I wanna fall in love again. And again...and again," he said as Sam glanced at Kate to see her subtly trying to free herself.

"I'll tell you what. I have fought some nasty sons of bitches, but you are one needy pathetic loser," Sam told him.

"You won't feel that way in a minute," Monroe told him as he approached him, grabbed his cheeks and squirted toxin from his mouth onto Sam's lips and chin. Kate's eyes turned even wider as she realized everything was going to be even more complicated now. "So I know you two have a lot you wanna get off your chests. So why don't you discuss it? And whoever survives can not only be with me forever, but can also have their fun with me and the lovely brown-head here." He said as he turned his head to her, with a smirk before taking a few steps back and looking at the brothers. Kate turned her brown eyes towards Sam and Dean as they faced each other, obviously ready to fight.

"Well, I don't know when it happened. Maybe when I was in hell. Maybe when I was staring right at you. But the Sam I knew, he's gone," Dean told Sam in a low voice full of rage.

"That so?" Sam replied.

"And it's not the demon blood or the psychic crap. It's the little stuff. The lies. The secrets."

"Oh, yeah? What secrets?" Sam asked as Kate glanced at the siren whose face was painted with a disgusting smile of happiness and satisfaction.

"The phone calls to Ruby for one," Dean said before he turned his head to look at Kate before looking back at Dean. "Or for Kate." She frowned as she stared at him. Their calls were completely innocent and sure they hadn't told Dean about them, but Kate thought there was no need to and Sam hadn't shown any interest in telling his brother neither.

"So I need your say-so to make a phone call?" Sam told him.

"That's the point. You're hiding things from me. You and Kate are screwing behind my back or did you go back to screwing Ruby, maybe? Or is it both? Come on, what else are you hiding from me, huh?"

"None of your business," Sam replied as Kate looked at Dean, taken aback that he would think she was banging his little brother. Many reasons could explain why she wasn't and would never do that with his brother. But, right now the most important thing was to free herself before it was too late.

"See what I mean? We used to be in this together. We used to have each other's backs," Dean told him.

"Okay, fine. You know why I didn't tell you about Ruby, and how we're hunting down Lilith? Because you're too weak to go after her, Dean. You're holding me back. I'm a better hunter than you are. Stronger, smarter. I can take out demons you're too scared to go near," Sam said to Dean in a tone that was so unlike him.

"That's crap."

"You're too busy sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. Whining about all the souls you tortured in hell. Boo hoo." Kate felt her heart beat faster as she remembered those flashbacks again. She shut her eyes and opened them when she heard a few grants along with the sound of punches being thrown.

Dean and Sam were fighting violently, punching each other with force, as Agent Monroe was sitting down on the couch, casually watching them with a smile. Kate took the opportunity that the siren was completely focused on the fight, to pull harder on the ropes. It hurt her wrists but she couldn't stop. She succeeded on getting her left wrist free.

"You're not standing in my way anymore," Sam said as the siren stood up and watched them. Kate reached for the rope around her right wrist and sat up as she tried to pull the ropes off her ankles right when Dean ran at Sam and they both crashed through the door on the hallway floor. Kate caught the siren's attention as he glared at her before quickly walking to where the brothers had landed. Kate rushed in untying her ankles as she slightly heard Monroe's voice.

"Do it, do it for me."

"Tell me again how weak I am, Sam, huh?" Dean's voice said as she finally got her right ankle free. She bounced from the bed and quickly ran to the hallway. "How I hold you back?" Dean said as Kate looked at him swinging an axe over his head.

Kate jumped on his back making him stumble, the axe falling down right next to Sam's head. The young brother, laid on his back, grabbed the axe as Dean spun on himself with Kate hanging on his back, arms and legs wrapped around him and slammed his back against a wall, as strongly as possible. Kate let out a moan of pain as it was her back that hits the wall. He did a second time trying to get her to unwrap her from his body but that only made her grip at him harder. All of sudden, Bobby appeared in the hallway with a bronze knife in his hand. He stabbed Dean's arm making him cry out, when Sam stood up with the axe in his hands. He swung it over his head, ready to hit Dean when Bobby raised his knife quickly and flung it at the siren who was running away.

Agent Monroe dropped dead as Sam and Dean blinked a few times. Sam looked at Dean and Kate hung on his back with a confused expression as he stepped back, lowering the axe in his hand before letting it drop on the floor. Kate's light brown eyes looked into Sam's hazel eyes and she sighed as she closed her eyes and rested her head down on Dean's shoulder. Dean turned his head slightly to look at the curly brown head wrapped around him like a monkey. He reached his hand up and patted her forearm gently as he let out a long sigh, and threw his head back, on her shoulder.

* * *

><p>"It's Castiel's hand," he told her as she stared at the red mark of a hand on his arm, right next to where Bobby had stabbed him earlier. "From when he raised me from perdition," he said making her look up at him. "That's his words, not mine." She looked down at the mark and hesitantly started to clean the wound, trying her best not to touch the red mark. He noticed how careful not to touch it she was before he looked up at her face. "How's your forehead feeling?" He asked her, his gaze falling on the band-aid on her forehead as she finished cleaning and gathered the tools to make the couple of stitches he needed. She brought her attention back to his shoulder, her chocolate brown gaze never meeting his apple green gaze, but still glancing at the mark Castiel had left on the hunter.<p>

"No headache anymore, so pretty good I guess," she replied before biting on her bottom lip and focusing on making the needle go through his skin. Back in her world, she had already learned a few important and useful things to know about injuries and how to take care of them, so it wasn't disgusting her to do that. She had even done that a few times ever since she arrived in this world. She had stitched Matt once and Rufus a couple of times. However, she felt a bit anxious to plunge a needle in his skin as she remembered that one of the tortures he had to go through- one she had to go through too somewhat- was things plunging into his skin, tearing him apart. She tried her hardest to stay calm and focused.

"What about your back?" He asked her as his eyes watched her lips with attention.

"Not bad," she replied, no more biting her lip.

"If you need a massage as an apology, I will be more than ready to give it to you," he told her making her smile a little. His lips turned into a corner smile as he turned his attention to her careful, soft and long fingers. She almost finished when Bobby's car approached them. He looked at it as Bobby and Sam walked out of Bobby's car. They had gone to burn the siren's body while Dean and Kate had driven to this place, a few miles away from the motel. Kate had insisted on making him stop the car and letting her take care of his injury and he had eventually given up.

"Done," she said as she put the things away in the little first-aid kit bag. He looked at her with a smile that soon faded when he realized she was still avoiding his gaze. He had no idea why, but he had noticed that ever since the siren made him tape her to the bed, she had been avoiding his gaze and had been talking very little with him. He wondered if it wasn't because of when he shouted at her in the car before that. _No_... He had noticed her suddenly scream and arch her body on the bed when she woke up after he had hit her head... He may have not been in control of his body and mind back then, but still he remembered what he did and said as much as he remembered what happened around him. There was something but he had no idea what, and it was starting to worry him.

"Good job, Katie," Bobby said as he approached them with drinks in his hands along with Sam who was already drinking a bottle before handing one to Kate. She took it, looked up at him and gave him a soft smile, which didn't get unnoticed by Dean. "Here."

"Soda?" Dean said as he looked at Bobby, taking the bottle the old man gave him.

"You boys are driving, aren't ya?" Bobby replied as he sipped his soda. Dean shook his head before opening it and taking a long sip of it.

"Thanks, Bobby. You know, if you hadn't shown up when you did..." Sam told him and Kate looked up at Bobby and Sam with a gentle smile.

"Done the same for me, more than once," Bobby replied. "But honestly, if Kate hadn't told me how her call went with that Agent Nick Monroe I wouldn't have realized he wasn't real," Kate looked at him a bit surprised and he gave her a little nod of his head as she looked down and drank a sip of her soda. A rather awkward silence fell between the four of them, and Kate couldn't help but wonder if she really should stay quiet about that Zachariah angel. She gulped as she remembered that if she did, she would be struck by another strong wave of Dean's painful Hell memories.

"You boys are gonna be Okay?" Bobby said pulling everyone's attention.

"Yeah, fine," Sam replied nodding his head.

"Yeah, good," Dean said and Bobby turned his head to Kate.

"What? You said boys, the question wasn't asked for me," she told him and he chuckled.

"I was actually gonna tell ya that it's time to go."

"You're going back with Bobby?" Sam asked as he looked at her.

"You didn't think I was gonna let her with you after what just happened," Bobby said in an almost scoff.

"Well, she kinda proved she can defend herself," Sam said as Dean looked at Kate whose gaze was still avoiding him.

"She better can, after all the training she's been doing," Bobby said making the two brothers frown.

"Training?" They asked in sync.

"Yeah," Bobby replied. "Rufus and I have put a hunter on her back to train her," he said as he noticed Dean's look. "I know it sounds like a bad idea, but she's good and she's pretty useful. Besides, it keeps her off my back 24/7!"

"Hey, I'm right here!" She protested as she looked at the old man.

"Anyways, we better go. Matt's waiting for ya," he told her and she nodded as she walked to the backseat where her duffle bag and back bag were along with her parka coat. "You know, those sirens are nasty things. That it got to you, that's no reason to feel bad," Bobby told Sam and Dean as Kate walked her stuff to Bobby's car. She put them in the backseat and turned to look at the brothers.

"See you, Bobby," Sam said as Bobby nodded at them before getting in his car. Standing next to the car's door leading to the front seat next to Bobby's, Kate stared at Sam who looked at her with a smile. She looked at Dean and felt a pinch in her heart. It hurt her to see him now that she remembered everything; now that she _knew_ exactly what he had been through. She walked towards them, her eyes meeting Sam's ones. "This is it, then?" He told her with a smile that she returned as he put down his beer on the hood of the Impala, before they went for a hug in sync. He wrapped his strong arms around her upper back as she let her arms go around his waist. Meanwhile, Dean was putting his flannel back on. When they pulled apart, she gave Sam a soft smile. She turned her head to Dean who was reaching for his jacket.

"Do I get a hug too?" Dean asked in a light mocking tone as he turned his head to look at the brunette. She gave him a little smile and Dean's face dropped when he met her eyes and saw the smile she was giving him. There was something he didn't like about her little smile and the way she was looking at him.

"Kate!" Bobby shouted from his car.

"You better go," Dean told her with a nod of the head, as he focused his green eyes on his jacket.

"Yeah... Be safe."

"We will," Sam replied.

"I mean it," she said as she looked into Sam's eyes. "Be safe." He nodded at her before she threw a glance at Dean who was looking away. She took a deep breath and walked quickly to the car.

The brothers watched the car driving away, as Sam sighed.

"Saying goodbye more properly to her wouldn't have killed you, Dean," he told his brother who grabbed his soda and drank a long sip of it.

"Speaking of goodbyes... You're gonna say goodbye to Cara?" Dean asked him, ignoring his brother's comment completely.

"Nah, not interested," Sam replied as he took another sip of his soda.

"Really? Why not?" Dean asked looking up at his brother, surprised.

"What's the point?" Sam asked shrugging.

"Well, look at you. Love them and leave them," Dean said with a little smirk.

"Dean, look, you know I didn't mean the things I said back there, right? That it was just the siren's spell talking?" Sam told his brother after a moment of silence.

"Of course, me too," Dean said as he frowned.

"And you know there's absolutely nothing between Kate and me, too, right?" Sam asked as Dean looked away.

"Yeah," Dean just said, thoughtfully before another silence fell upon them.

"So... so we're good?"

"Yeah, we're good," Dean just said as Sam nodded before walking to get in the car. Dean stayed a few seconds looking at the direction Bobby's car had left to. He couldn't get off his mind the way she had looked at him, the way she had smiled at him.

There was none of this softness he became accustomed to, none of this calm understanding he liked, none of this sincere desire to be there for him. Her eyes were full of pity and so was her smile. She had never looked at him this way. He hated when people looked at him with sympathy, _with pity_. He hated even more when it was her. He couldn't help but wonder why this soft peace-bringer changed the way she looked at him. A sudden thought crossed his mind, making him scared. _What if she realized I'm not worth her comfort? What if she realized how much of a monster I really am?  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong><span>Author's note :<span>  
><strong>

**Hello dear readers !**

**I truly hope you've enjoyed this chapter! I think it's a bit too long, but I didn't want to cut anymore scenes since I already cut so much from the actual episodes almost all the time... The thing is that I don't like writing word to word what happened on the episode. Well, anyways, I can't wait to read your thoughts about this chapter. And I was really wondering how much do you like Kate's involvment in the Supernatural world? Is it going too fast or too slow? What would you like to see?**

**Next chapter is going to be so eventful! I can't wait for you to read it, I'm sure you're gonna like it quite a lot and maybe love me more for something I'll do oooor completely hate me! There'll be some little feud over a brunette ( alibird1), Matt is going to make some hunter overprotective ( imou), we'll learn a bit more about Kate's past ( andy) and something very sad will happen to one of my favourite characters... Oh and our little Castiel will make an important apparition too! Yeah... It's gonna a long chapter... So, if you want to find out what's gonna happen sooner than in (maybe more than) one week, you simply gotta leave me a little review! Let's say I hit more reviews than usually and we all celebrate it with a long and eventful chapter updated quickly, good deal, huh? ;)**

**PS: guest, I don't know if you're the same guest who left reviews on the previous chapters but if you are, I wanna thank you very much for taking on your time to write those long reviews (just like I wanna thank those who write longer or shorter reviews of course :)!). All I wanna say is that it touched me when you said reading about a character who overcame her problems gives you courage. I'm not sure if my OC is the best example to show you that you can overcame every obstacles in life, but I want you to know that no matter how hard things can seem or can actually be, you can overcome everything! Life is hard, and it never goes easier with the years, but your way of seeing it and of appreciating it will make it all seem easier. You just keep fighting, you never give up, because at the end you'll realize it was worth it. I don't know what you've been through (and possibly still go through) but no matter what that is, I hope my little advice will help you understand that you are strong and everything will be alright.**

**Love for all of you from Paris,**

**A.**


	13. Chapter 13

_**Three days later.**_

_**Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.**_

Kate was sitting at the table, having lunch with Pamela Barnes in Bobby Singer's kitchen while the old man had gone down town for a grocery shopping. Early that morning, Bobby had picked Pamela up, before dropping her off at his house and going back to town. Kate was more than happy to see the woman with who she had shared quite a lot of moments. No matter if the moment passed together was sharing a beer together while getting to know each other or if it was working on a strange case, Kate always enjoyed the psychic's company and the woman had made her understand that the feeling was reciprocated.

Kate had realized that for some reason Pamela didn't want to come as long as Matthew was in the vicinity. The young brunette assumed that it was because Matthew had no idea about her being from another universe, and she thought Pamela didn't want to have to lie about all of this. Therefore, Pamela had sounded very relieved and glad on the phone, when Kate told her that the young hunter had gone away for a couple of days. Pamela had asked her to tell Bobby to come pick her up right away, which Bobby complied immediately after Kate had started telling him what Pamela had said. She knew they were planning on doing something, but she had no idea what.

Something that Kate was sure had been noticed by everyone lately was how not well she was feeling. She knew very well that Bobby and Matthew had noticed it, and that Pamela noticed it the minute she stepped in the house. The young brunette was quite relieved that no one asked her what was wrong. She knew that Bobby and Matthew had been too busy lately to ask her, but it didn't mean they hadn't tried to. As a matter of fact, they had tried asking her but she had managed to avoid their questions because one of the phones was ringing or by telling them she wanted to catch on her sleep.

Now that Zachariah wasn't inviting her to this sort of fancy little room every time she fell asleep, she thought she could have a restful sleep and actually dream. But, her dreams turned out to be very far from being peaceful and happy dreams. They were nightmares. Nightmares about the Cleaner running after her before catching her and strangling her, or nightmares about the digging out of the corpse of Sam's childhood friend before the ghost attacked her or even the corpse was brought back to life somehow. And sometimes it was Dean's memories of Hell; the ones that Zachariah had imposed to her whenever she talked back and he wanted to show her who was the boss. The previous night, she had dreamed she was in Bobby's kitchen when Zachariah appeared and shouted at her to work on her missions that were to stop the breaking of the seals and to keep the Winchesters motivated on accomplishing their own missions. She had told him she refused and that God would never want her to do all the things he was ordering her to. And then, he had made her go through another Dean's moment in Hell. This was one of the memories of him as the torturer and she was one of the many souls he had tortured in Hell. Dean was craving in her chest with a thin blade before opening her completely and throwing salt in her insides. It had been incredibly painful, and at her waking, she wasn't sure if it was a nightmare or an actual visit of Zachariah.

"You're zoning out, again, lady," Pamela said moving her hand in front of Kate's face, bringing the young woman back to the moment.

"Sorry," Kate replied as the woman with sunglasses just scoffed.

"You're sure you told me everything that happened to you lately?"

"What do you mean?" Kate asked her.

"Well, you seem to forget that I'm one of the best psychics you'll ever cross path with," Pamela replied as she leaned against the back of her chair, across from Kate. "I kinda feel something bothering you. Besides, you haven't eaten more than two forks of your plate."

"No that's not-"

"I may be blind but I can hear when someone's chewing on their food or not," Pamela cut her off. Kate bit on her lips as she sighed through her nostrils, her eyes falling on her, indeed, full plate of pasta. "What's wrong with you, honey?"

"I don't know…" Kate whispered.

"You do. You just don't think you can say it…" The psychic said as she reached for Kate's hand on the table. "I can feel there's something scaring you…" Pamela told her as her warm hand stroked the back of Kate's cold hand. Kate looked up at the woman whose face displayed an intensive expression, before she shook her head faintly. "Don't you worry, honey. Everything will soon be fine."

Right at this moment, they both heard the front door opening and then slamming as the grumpy voice of Bobby Singer echoed.

"Fuckin' season, too fuckin' cold!"

"Language, Singer!" Pamela shouted as he walked in his living room scoffing.

"Your language is worse, Barnes!"

"Yeah, but I watch it around younger people," Pamela said as Kate frowned looking at her.

"You used the C and the D word, not an hour ago," Kate remarked as Pamela turned her head to her.

"But, he didn't need to know that," Pamela said as Kate's lips cracked in a little smile.

"You girls had lunch?" Bobby asked while taking off his coat, as Kate stood up.

"Yeah-"

"No," Pamela cut Kate off. "I've had lunch and she's eaten two little forks like a friggin' bird."

"I wasn't very hungry," Kate started to say as Bobby stared at her.

"That's what you've been sayin' for three days now, Katie," Bobby told her as he walked towards her. "Sit. And eat."

"But Bobby-"

"There's no '_but Bobby'_. I don't want ya to pass out in my house, so you eat and I don't wanna hear a word," Bobby told her sternly when the phone rang. "I've got my eyes on you!" He told her as he grabbed the phone to answer the call while standing only a few feet away from the young woman. Kate sighed as she sat down in front of her plate.

She looked at the red sauce with meatballs as she plunged the forks in. She stared at it, in silence as Bobby kept on talking on the phone. It was food that Pamela brought with her earlier and all Kate had done was put it in the microwave before serving the woman and herself. She hadn't really paid any attention on the aspect of it, as she was catching up with Pamela in the same time. But as she really looked at it now, it seemed like the red sauce turned even redder somehow... It seemed to get crimson red… Suddenly, an image of flesh pieces in a bath of blood crossed her mind. Her fingers started to shake as she heard a voice telling her that more pieces of her were going to be cut off and mixed to that. Kate jumped in her chair and pushed the plate away as she stood up, her hands holding strongly at her hair's roots. It had only been three days, but all those flashbacks and hallucinations were starting to drive her completely crazy.

"What's wrong?" Bobby asked her as he walked to her. "I'll call ya later," he said to the phone before hanging up and walking to Kate.

"Bobby, we need to do it now," Pamela said as she frowned. Bobby gently put his arms around Kate who was trembling.

"D-do what?" Kate asked in a crying shaking voice as she looked at the psychic before looking up at the old man by her side.

* * *

><p>"Breathe in. Breathe out," Pamela's voice whispered softly as Kate was laying on the couch in Bobby's living room, her eyes closed and her body completely relaxed. Pamela and Bobby wanted to know what was wrong with the young woman lately just as much as they wanted to find out how exactly she got in this universe for two months now. So, Pamela had suggested to Bobby a very good and old skill to get Kate focused on her memory lane. She had never tried this one because it was a very precise thing to do and the psychic wasn't sure she could manage it. However, she had spent a few days preparing a sort of little beverage that could make Kate focused enough to let her subconscious-self talk. The psychic was a bit nervous, because she knew that if the slightest thing went wrong, Kate could get stuck in her own mind. She had waited the right time to do this, and now it was the rightest time. "Breathe in, and out. Replay it all now. You're getting in your car, making your way to Lawrence… Why Lawrence?"<p>

"My father is buried there," Kate breathed out.

"You're heading there to visit him, then?"

"Yes."

"You told me you've had a hard week… And you decided to go visit your father. Were you used to visit him a lot?"

"No… Only was there for the funeral… It was my first time visiting him ever since his death." Bobby stared at Kate, his arms crossed over his chest as he was leaning silently against his desk. Kate didn't know this, but she had already replied to those questions three times earlier before she stopped talking and Pamela had to put Kate into an even more focused state. She then started asking her the same questions again, only to have the exact same answers.

"Why?"

"I didn't want to…"

"You didn't want to visit him?"

"I didn't want to accept his death," Kate replied as Pamela opened her mouth to keep going when Kate interrupted her. "I still don't want to…"

"I see… It's always hard to accept those kind of things," Pamela murmured as Bobby glanced at her. Kate hadn't said this the previous times. Pamela was sure that she had a good link with Kate' subconscious now, at last. "Now, I want you to tell me how you were feeling when your car stopped."

"Tired… It was too much…"

"Too much for this hard week?" Pamela asked as Bobby felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out and hung up. He had cut off all his other phones because Pamela had told him nothing should disturb the whole house.

"Yes."

"What did you do then?"

"I got out… Looked under the hood… But I didn't know what to do… So I went to take a paper… Ouch!" Kate frowned on the bed as Bobby looked at her curiously.

"What? What happened?" Pamela asked her, confused.

"Papercut..."

"Then?"

"I stood in front of my hood… The sky. It's-it's turning grey…"

"No more beautiful sunshine and blue sky?"

"No more… But the ground… There's an earthquake… I gotta get in my car…" Kate replied as Pamela nodded. "There's a black thing… A black hole… And there's…"

"There's what?"

"There's… _Somebody_…"

"Somebody?" Pamela asked her eyebrows frowned as Bobby straightened and unfolded his arms, his eyes fixing at the young brunette. She had never mentioned anyone else around her when she got aspired by this black hole. "In the hole?"

"No… Behind the shrubs… Someone's standing behind the shrubs…"

"Kate, I want you to describe this person."

"I can't see very well… It's dark and I'm confused and scared… But I can see someone standing there… The hole is aspiring me! I can't… I can't breathe!" Kate started to arch her body on the bed and move her head from left to right, frantically. "He's standing over me!"

"Who? That same person hiding behind the shrubs?"

"No… It's someone else… I can't handle this anymore… Thirty years has been enough… Please get me off that rack, please!" Kate begged crying out loud as she arched her whole body on the couch. Sweat was forming quickly on her forehead as her face was all of sudden turning red.

"Pamela-" Bobby said as panic rose in him.

"You're gonna wake up in five, four, three, two, one," Pamela told Kate who just kept on crying her eyes closed. "Kate, wake up!"

"Please! Stop it, stop it!" Kate screamed on the couch. "I'll do anything, please stop Alastair!"

* * *

><p>Dean stared at Kate's sleeping form on the bed in silence as his little brother helped Bobby preparing the concoction that was supposed to help them get into Kate's mind. Sam and Dean had come as soon as Bobby called them. He had just wanted to ask Dean if Kate had more than one encounter with Alastair when the elder Winchester brother had asked him to tell him exactly what was happening over at his house to make him ask this kind of question. The second Bobby had said Kate was lost in her own mind, Dean had immediately stepped on the gas, saying they'd be there in less than an hour. When Sam had asked him what was going on, Dean had given him too short answers, which made Sam realize that they were rushing towards Bobby's with no real idea of what was happening over there. However, Sam had seen very clearly the concern on Dean's face and it made him worried too. All he knew was that Alastair was somehow linked with Kate being unconscious and sort of stuck in her own mind. It worried him, but the expression on his big brother's face increased this feeling even more than he thought possible.<p>

When they got at Bobby's, the psychic had explained to them what had happened and the brothers had felt themselves going through many emotions in such a short time, and in complete silence, as they listened to her with their gazes stuck on Kate. Shock, concern, worry, anger, fear. So many feelings had filled them. The whole situation had seemed utterly insane and impossible. The fact that she had said something about getting her off the rack and that it had been thirty years, made Dean even more afraid of what was happening to her. His thoughts were going crazy and he didn't want to overthink it because whenever he did, he couldn't help but ask him himself if she had been to Hell too, even though it was more than impossible. He was entirely fretting at the thought that she was possibly going through something as terrible as Hell's tortures at this exact moment, and that he was completely and hopelessly unable to help her.

"She'll be fine, Dean," Pamela said from the chair she was sitting on right next to Bobby's desk. He didn't look away from Kate as he gave a little nod of the head, from the chair he was sitting on that was right across of Kate. "The recipe of that drink will help Bobby get in her head, and in no time she'll be back to us."

"Pamela's right," Bobby said as he walked towards Kate and took a strand of her brown hair. He put in his glass as he walked to a chair.

"You're sure you don't want me to do this instead, Bobby?" Sam asked as he put down the jar with the rest of the beverage while standing near the doorway leading to the kitchen. Dean looked up at Sam, his eyebrows slightly frowned as something hit him. It shouldn't be Bobby doing this. And, his little brother shouldn't be doing this either.

"No, I got it," Bobby replied as he put down his glass and took a little bag on the coffee table.

""How are you gonna get yourself to sleep?" Pamela asked him. The old man opened the little bag and pulled out a set of injections.

"I've got some good medicine I stole in the Sioux Falls hospital a week ago," he replied as Dean and Sam looked at the old man. "I'll drink this improved African Dream Root first, then I'll inject myself this."

"Will it really work?" Sam asked, his voice full of a concern that never left him ever since they got here. His eyes kept on glancing at the young woman, laid, wholly motionless on the couch.

" 'Course, it will," Bobby replied as he rolled his sleeve up and grabbed the glass. He drank it all in one shot before grimacing at the terrible taste of it. He put the empty glass down on the table, and glanced at the unconscious young woman on his couch. He let out long exhale as he nodded at himself. "Let's do this." He took the injection and was suddenly stopped by Dean.

"Stop it! I think I should go in there."

"What?" Sam asked as he looked at his brother, surprised by the sudden reaction while he had stayed rather quiet ever since they got here and saw Kate unconscious.

"She's talked about Alastair… And said something about-about a rack… If she's been to Hell somehow, and has those memories, I'm the only who can help her out from wherever she's stuck," Dean told them.

"Dean-"

"No, Sam. You know I'm right," Dean interrupted him.

"You are right," Pamela said nodding her head as the three men turned their attention to her. "But there's something you need to know here, pretty boy. Getting in someone's mind while their stuck in there isn't a funny, pretty ride. If they're stuck in there, it's because something awful is happening and holding them back there."

"I'm aware of that," he simply replied in a serious tone.

"Alright. You gotta know that you'll be sent to some point, _any point_, in her memory lane. And then, you'll travel from there. You'll certainly see some dark moments of her past, but you won't be able to do anything. You'll be just like a ghost passing by, witnessing everything without having any power to save her," Pamela told him. Dean's eyebrows frowned as he tried to grasp everything she was telling him. "You won't be able to control the travels, but you need to follow every versions of her you'll meet."

"What does that mean?" Dean asked.

"You'll see different versions of her depending on which memory, you are. And you need to follow them, because there'll be a time when she'll see you… I have to say I don't really know how, but you'll figure out in there. And when she sees you, when she knows you are not a part of her mind, you'll have to hold on her because it will be her subconscious."

"What, then? What do I have to do to wake her up?"

"Just make her travel with you through her memory lane… She is supposed to wake up when she's escaped what's holding her there."

"What, like a monster?" Sam asked.

"No," Pamela replied. "A bad memory, I think…"

"Alright," Dean replied as he nodded before turning his head towards the older hunter.

"You idjit couldn't have stopped before I drank this fuckin' disgustin' thing?" Bobby grumped as he put down the injection. Dean stood up and walked to Kate. He put his hand gently on her head, caressing her soft wild hair before pulling a tiny strand of her brown hair off. Sam observed his brother's gestures before handing him the jar with the beverage. Dean took it and put the hair in it as he bent down and grabbed the injection on the table. He sat down on the edge of the bed, next to Kate's head, and drank the concoction. He shook his head at the taste. He slid the jar on the table and looked at the three people staring at him.

"Be careful, Dean," Sam told him as Dean looked at him before turning his gaze to the soft head near his lap. He nodded as he looked up at his brother.

He didn't say anything as he slid up the sleeve of his flannel. He took a deep breath, and injected the drug in his forearm, wincing just a little bit. He felt immediately dizzy and only had the time to pull off the injection before his head fell backwards as unconscious took over him.

* * *

><p><em>The dirty-blonde hunter blinked a few times as he woke up, laid down on a red couch. He sat up and looked around himself. He was in a rather big and wealthy living room, with a fireplace and a glass coffee table. There were two large chairs at each side of the couch among other items.<em>

"_Mom, you don't get it-"_

"_No, I do get it! I get it very well young lady! You figured out that the only way to get to live with your father was to get me so mad that I would just send you there!"_

"_What? So you think I've been doing all of this on purpose?! Mom, those girls want to kill me!"_

"_For God's sake, you're overacting now!" A very thin and tall red-haired woman in a blue suit said as she walked to the end of the couch, obviously not seeing Dean sitting on that couch. "You can't keep on going at school and come back with your clothes or bags destroyed because you're fighting! And you can't keep doing that to my boss' daughter!"_

"_Mom, I'm your daughter… Shouldn't you be more worried about me?" Dean turned his head to see a younger Kate standing there in a zip-hoodie and a pair of large pants. She looked a bit chubbier than what he thought she would look like as a teenager. He assumed she was sixteen or seventeen years old upmost. Even though, the discussion between the red head and the brown head was pretty heavy, Dean couldn't help the thought that crossed his mind as he stared at Kate.__** Some things truly never change**__. His lips turned into a little smile that he couldn't stop as his eyes were glued to the way her hair was a messy curly wildness all around her face._

"_Let's be honest here, Kate. It's not the first time you've made troubles somewhere and pretended you were the victim-"_

"_Are you talking about what happened after my seventh year again?! I told you some jerk called me fat and stole my lunch!"_

"_Was it necessary to fight that boy in front of the principal during the teachers-parents reunion?" The red head said as Dean looked at her. "And before you find some clever and sarcastic thing to answer that question of me, you should know that the answer is no, it wasn't necessary. Besides, if you had listened to me and did that diet in time, you wouldn't have been fat back then." Dean's jaw clenched as he glared at that woman. How could she talk like that to her own child? Besides, a few extra pounds didn't make Kate any less pretty._

"_Well, I've lost some weight now. I bet you're overexcited about that!" Kate exclaimed sarcastically._

"_I'll be overexcited when your behavior in high school will be as good as your grades!" The woman said as she walked around the couch, grabbed her bag and turned to Kate. "Oh and I don't care whatever you say. You go to that high school today or you won't see your father this weekend, am I clear?"_

"_Cristal," Kate groaned as her mother just walked away and Dean frowned. She had told him that her relationship with her mother wasn't the best one, but he felt like she had softened it all pretty much, because her mother was clearly treating her like crap._

_He remembered that he had to follow every versions of Kate, so he stood up and followed her as she walked upstairs. She looked so upset and angry as she slammed her bedroom's door and he stood outside staring at it. HE didn't know if he could walk through it like a real ghost so he reached his hand towards the brown wooden door, when suddenly he heard soft cries coming from inside. She was crying. It saddened him to hear her cry and right when he was going to try get through that door, the brown door changed into a white door. He looked around himself and realized he wasn't standing in the corridor he had followed Kate to. He was in some public bathroom. He made two steps to the exit door when it opened._

"_Come on, Fatty Katie, we know you're in there!" A skinny brunette said as she walked in with two blondes, wearing as little clothes as she did, their faces painted with too much makeup. He looked at them and frowned._

"_You can take your time, we're not in a hurry," one of the blondes said as she pulled out a pair of hedge shears. "But, the sooner you get out of there and the better your haircut will be." She laughed along with the others as Dean stared at them, completely taken aback. __**What the heck were they planning to do with this fuckin' tool?**_

"_You need this haircut ever since we started this little game with you months ago. Don't you agree?" The brunette said with a devilish smirk._

"_What the fuck…" Dean said when one of the toilet's door opened and a young Kate stood there. She was wearing other clothes, much larger clothes and her eyes were red from crying but still she stood in front of those girls, with a strong expression all over her face._

"_When I look at you three, I feel like you're the ones who need that haircut," Kate told them in a strong voice as she gave them a sarcastic smile. __**Here's my girl.**__ The blonde holding the hedge shears huffed as she glanced at the other blonde and the brunette who approached Kate._

"_Hold her down," the blonde ordered. The two girls tried to get to Kate but she fought back._

_A loud knock on the door made all the girls turn around and when Dean did, he realized he was standing somewhere else once again. It was a long and empty hallway. He frowned as he looked around himself and recognized this place as a hospital hallway._

"_What the fuck am I doing in a hospital now?" He asked himself as he started to walk down the corridor. Suddenly, the noise of clicking heels echoed. He turned around to see a doctor walking towards a man he hadn't seen earlier in this corridor. The brown-head man was sitting on a seat, his head in his hands._

"_Mister Anderson?" The doctor said making Dean fix at the man with a surprised expression. This man was Kate's father._

"_Is my daughter alright?" The man asked as he stood up. His face showed so much distress._

"_She's got three broken ribs, and the stab she received above her hips made her lost a lot of blood," the doctor replied as Dean observed the man's reaction. The man looked defeated, an expression Dean knew very well from seeing it in the mirror so many times. "She's awake but I'd rather you let her rest for a bit before you-"_

"_Dad!" Dean turned his face as he saw another young version of Kate standing in a hospital's robe, her hand holding the wall as her other arm was linked with tubes to a trailing thing. She looked thinner than earlier which made Dean realize that he was sort of going through glimpses of her timeline, certainly from older events to more recent events. And, now it must have been quite some time since the public bathroom scene. Her hair was very short and he clenched his jaw as he realized that this must have been the results of what those teenagers did to her in the public bathroom._

"_Kate!" Her father exclaimed as the doctor sighed._

"_You should be in bed!" The doctor said as she walked after the father who had already approached his daughter and was hugging her._

"_Daddy…" Kate said as she hugged her father tightly when a red-haired woman came running down the hallway towards them. Dean recognized her as Kate's mother._

"_Good Lord, what happened? I just got off work-"_

"_Please, get your daughter back in her bed," the doctor told Kate's father before looking at the woman. "You must be Mrs Anderson?"_

"_Miss Parker. We're divorced," the woman said sternly as Dean stared at her while Mister Anderson led his daughter back in the room right next to them._

"_Alright," the doctor nodded. "Your daughter has been found near the locker rooms of her high school. She has been beaten very badly."_

"_Oh God, she always gets herself into troubles," Kate's mother said shaking her head as Dean looked at her with disgust before he noticed the little and innocent face of younger Kate staring at her mother from the bed as her father put the blanket back on her. She lowered her face and Dean felt sad for her. He knew that she had heard her mother's comment and was sure that it had hurt her._

"_Miss Parker, some students witnessed the scene and told the police that she didn't initiate anything… You need to know that, besides the beating, a few students tried to sexually abuse her," the doctor told her alarming Dean even more. He glanced at the little brunette in the room as her father stroked her hair gently. Suddenly a gunshot was heard. Dean looked at the doctor and Kate's mother as they kept on talking like if they hadn't heard that gunshot. However, he couldn't make out what they were saying when suddenly another gunshot echoed._

_The hunter turned around and found himself in an empty high school hallway. Some bags, books and papers were scattered all around the floor. He frowned as he made two steps and stopped when another gunshot was heard and went right through him. After all, he was some sort of ghost in here. A piercing scream appeared and Dean turned around to see a familiar blonde on the floor, holding her bleeding leg._

"_Ashley! The girl I've been looking for, the most!" A voice shouted as Dean spun around to see a young boy walking with a rifle in his hands and another gun hung around his waist. He approached the blonde that Dean recognized as the one holding those hedge shears in that bathroom. "Where the hell have you been hiding?" He asked her sarcastically as he kicked in a bag while the blonde tried to crawl away, crying. "Huh?"_

"_Xander, stop!" Dean turned around to see Kate walking out of a cupboard._

"_Kate," the young boy said with a little smile, his voice softening immediately. "Why are you hiding? You know I would never hurt you."_

"_That's why I got out," Kate replied in a shaky gentle voice. She looked so vulnerable, and yet so strong as she stood there._

"_Wanna kill that bitch with me?" He asked her as he pointed at the bleeding blonde. Kate glanced at the girl before turning her attention back to the boy._

"_You haven't killed anyone yet, Xander," she told him as he stared at her. "You shot everywhere to scare everyone… But there's no one killed right?"_

"_Not yet. I wanna kill her and her fuckin' plastic friends," he replied. "And you can help me."_

"_You're right, I can help you," Kate said making Dean look at her with surprise. "But not this," Kate told him as she shook her head making little steps towards the young boy._

"_What?"_

"_I can't let you kill her or anyone…" Kate whispered._

"_Why not? She almost killed you two months ago! Don't you remember?! She's beaten the crap out of you and you ended up in hospital!" He shouted at Kate who bit her lips together trying to stay calm. Dean's green eyes turned to the brunette standing there, in a casual large black tee-shirt, a jacket, jeans and a pair of simple sneakers. Her hair was a bit longer, but not that much as it was pulled in a ponytail, and there was fear written all over her face but still here she stood, trying to calm down a definitely depressed teenager carrying guns and not afraid to kill. _

"_I know," she replied softly, her eyes full of tears. "I know. But, it doesn't mean we have to kill her…"_

"_She's been poisoning my whole life! She-she made me hate myself!" Xander screamed as he pointed the rifle at the blonde but Kate made a quick step and stood in between them. "Kate, get out of the way. Right now."_

"_No," Kate said as tears streamed down her face. "No, I can't let you do this… Xander, do you really think it will make your life better? Killing her won't help you in any way…"_

"_It's not just her… It's this whole system… They're all so selfish and they treat us like crap! They humiliate us, a-and they have so much fun seeing us in pain! They don't give a fuck about our feelings!" He shouted. "They treat us like monsters, like fuckin' freaks!"_

"_What do you think people will call you if you kill her? If you kill her, what will you become?" Kate said as Dean turned his eyes to the young boy. He noticed a red spot on the young boy's chest._

"_Are you saying I'm a freak, Kate?" The boy said as he narrowed his eyes at her._

"_No… All I'm saying is that you're not a murder. You-you can't do that… A few months and it will all be over, Xander. Can't you see? A few months and we'll leave this place… We'll have a new start somewhere else, far away from here…" She glanced at his chest and gulped. "Please, Xander. Drop your gun, now," she whispered and Dean realized she had noticed the red spot on his chest._

"_You know what? You're a fucking hypocrite… Do you know how much troubles I got in by telling the cops what I witnessed near the locker rooms, huh? Did you know that my father beat me with his belt for a whole week for going in so much troubles for you? I thought we were friends, Kate! And here you are, defending this bitch!"_

"_Xander, please…" She whispered as he shook his head and took a step towards her when suddenly a gunshot appeared and the boy dropped dead on the floor. Kate jumped in shock as she took a few steps towards him. "Xander?" She asked hesitantly, her voice a little whisper. The boy didn't move as the blonde moaned louder making Kate turn around and look at her. She glanced at the boy before walking to the blonde quickly as she took off her jacket and knelt next to the injured blonde. She started to put some pressure on the girl's thigh as she kept on throwing glances at the dead boy on the floor. Dean stared at her, feeling compassion for her._

* * *

><p>It had been two hours since Dean drank that beverage to get into Kate's mind, and Sam hadn't moved from his spot as his eyes were glued to the two unconscious forms on the couch. Bobby had brought him a chair to sit down, but other than that he hadn't even gone to the bathroom or anything. On the other hand, Bobby had started moving around after half an hour, and Pamela had gone outside to take some fresh air after an hour too. It's not that they weren't as worried as Sam was, but they just couldn't stand still. Besides, Pamela had said it would take some time for Dean to find Kate's subconscious-self. Every once in a while, Kate's fingers or head would move slightly but Sam noticed that his brother stayed completely still. The younger Winchester felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He wanted to ignore it, but it vibrated a second time. He sighed as he pulled it out of his pocket. Seeing he had received two texts from that unsaved number he knew was Ruby's, he glanced up at his brother, as if not sure if he should open the texts. When he heard a few footsteps, he straightened his back on the chair and cleared his throat as he put his phone back in his pocket.<p>

"Sweetheart, you haven't moved an inch still?" Pamela said as she walked in with Bobby at her left.

"I don't need to," he simply replied as his light hazel eyes focused on his brother's face.

"Don't need to take a trip to the bathroom either?" Bobby asked him as he helped Pamela sit down on her chair.

"No."

"Sam, there's nothing we can do for now, so why don't you go eat something. Kate had made Matt buy a few snacks, you'll find them in the top cupboards," Bobby told him as he walked to the well-ordered book shelf and grabbed a few books.

"Not hungry," Sam replied as he crossed his arms over his chest. His eyebrows frowned a bit as he glanced at Kate's face. "Bobby… Who's that Matt guy?"

"A hunter," Bobby replied as he walked to his desk with the many books. "He's about your age, but he hasn't been hunting for as long as ya. Rufus found him and kinda trained him," he said as he walked to a box with a few files, next to the bookshelf.

"Why did you think it'd be a good idea to make him train Kate?" Sam asked, his gaze never looking away from Kate's face.

"Didn't really wanted to. Rufus thought it'd be safer for her to stay here if she knew how to fight back. But, she's the one who wants to know more about demons and monsters," Bobby replied. "I have not a fuckin' idea why, though!"

"She wants to help," Pamela said all of sudden making both Bobby and Sam look at her. "She wants to be useful, she doesn't wanna twiddle her thumbs while everybody's doing something useful around her. Besides, she's been told by a pretty face with a nice booty, that no matter what this job was worth it."

"I've never told her this… Not like that anyway," Sam replied.

"Honey, you're not the only pretty face with a nice booty in this room," Pamela told him with a little smirk. Sam frowned as he glanced at Dean. "I didn't mean any of you Winchester boys," Pamela said as Sam turned to look at Bobby who was staring at Pamela with a frown of shock. "You've never seen pictures of Bobby when he was younger, Sam? He was one handsome man."

"Quit your bullshit!" Bobby told her as he grabbed a couple of files and walked to his desk. Pamela let out a little laugh as Sam turned his attention back to Kate.

"Matt is a good hunter, Sam," Pamela told him as she felt his concern. "You don't have to worry about him being around our little girl from another world. He takes good care of her." Sam didn't say anything as he nodded his head.

"Yeah, except that he tells her too much about our world! The poor girl doesn't need to know that much, she's not even from here," Bobby grumbled.

"Well, he doesn't know she's from another universe, so he's not to blame." Pamela interjected. "Besides, she's the one asking all of those questions because-"

"Because she wants to be useful, I got it!" Bobby cut her off, his tone still grumpy.

"There's that and the little gift she's making you for when she'll go back to her universe," Pamela said as Bobby's face scrunched in confusion. Sam turned his head to look at them with a slight frown of same confusion than the old man.

"What gift you talkin' about?" Bobby asked her.

"Well-" Pamela started when suddenly Kate and Dean started to grunt pulling everyone's attention to them. Kate's grunts stopped but Dean's continued as his brow furrowed.

"He didn't react at all for hours now… Why is he starting to react, now?" Sam asked a little bit panicked as he stood up and looked back and forth between Pamela and his brother.

"He must have reached a memory he's a part of," Pamela replied in a little voice as a thoughtful expression appeared all over her face as Dean's fingers curled tightly, his grunts getting louder and louder. "A very dark memory…"

* * *

><p><em>Dean frowned as he was now standing in a dark and very hot room. He could hear some screams coming from afar, as he brought his hand up to his nose; the strong smell of something burning disgusted him. He knew that smell too well and it made his stomach turn upside down. <em>_**The smell of burning flesh.**_

"_Please, stop! Alastair nooo!" Dean turned around as he heard Kate's voice scream loudly. He walked towards her voice and stopped when he saw her on a rack being tortured by a dark shadowy twisted figure. He stopped as memories of Hell rushed in his mind, he shook his head trying to focus on the now moment._

"_Oh but we're having so much fun, Dean," the figure replied and Dean felt his heartbeats stop all of sudden. "It's only been what? Twenty-nine years? This game is so much fun, and you like it right? I mean you never accept my oh- so beautiful offer, so you must enjoy being on that rack, Dean." The hunter felt his legs make slow steps on their own, towards the demon and the rack. He stopped when he caught a glimpse of Kate's face. He was confused as to what was happening. The demon was burning her arm with a large iron bar and was calling her by his name, not hers. "Come on say yes!"_

"_Never!" Kate shouted in her cries._

"_Come ooon," the demon said as he traced the burning iron on her arm more forcefully. "Come on, Dean! Say yes! Get off this old rack, and work for me! You won't suffer anymore, come on we'll make a great team, Dean!"_

"_No!" Dean shouted right when Kate screamed even louder, as he shut his eyes tight._

"_I'm here," Dean heard her soft voice said. He opened his eyes and turned around. And here she was, standing in a white dress, her hair untied and falling below her shoulders almost reaching her elbows as it was completely straightened. Her face looked so pale, and even her lips that were usually red naturally, looked pale and almost cold blue. _

"_Kaitlin…" He whispered as he threw a glance behind to see that there was no one left in that dark room, but still he could smell that horrible smell. And he could cries and screams coming from afar. And the rack he knew so much was still there. Kate started unbuttoning her dress and Dean quickly made the two steps separating them, as he put his hands on hers, stopping her from uncovering herself. "Hey, hey, hey. What are you doing?"_

"_Getting ready," she replied, lowering her head as she stared at the ground. Dean frowned._

"_Ready?"_

"_For the rack," she replied in a little voice as Dean realized all of sudden that this version of Kate could see and hear him. "Alastair said I would be the best for your first day. And, he said that there was nothing better than a white dress to paint in red, to make you satisfied."_

"_Kaitlin," he softly told her as he closed his eyes, his hands holding hers. He was starting to remember what was happening. Those things she was saying… Those things were the things the first soul he tortured, a long time ago, told him. He tried to breathe deeply to keep himself composed._

"_Do you want me to-"_

"_Stop it, stop!" Dean told her as he opened his eyes and looked all over her face. "This… This isn't your memory… This is mine!" He put his hands on her cheeks and made her look up at him. She was staring at him with no emotion at all. Even the softness she always gave off no matter what, was lacking. "Kaitlin, you haven't been to Hell! Those are my memories! How can you have them?! You shouldn't be seeing all of that! You shouldn't be living all of that, Kaitlin!" Suddenly it was like if she had realized suddenly what was happening around her as the pupils of her eyes seemed to get wider. "Kaitlin, how can you have my memories of Hell?!" An expression of fear and sorrow appeared on her face._

"_He's given them to me," she whispered as tears left her eye and he wiped them away with his thumbs._

"_Who? Who did that to you? Why?" He asked her. "Kaitlin, tell me."_

"_I can't… I can't go through all of that… It's too much…" She said shaking her head. "How-how do you do it, Dean?"_

"_I don't… I just know that I gotta keep going. So I keep going," he replied as he looked at her. He felt heartbroken to see her looking so vulnerable and broken. "But, you're not supposed to go through that… This isn't your burden. It's mine."_

"_I deserve it… Dean, I'm not a good girl…"_

"_Why are you saying that?"_

"_I'm not a good girl… I've never even noticed how bad my friend was feeling in high school… H-he got killed because of me."_

"_Xander? The teen boy who came to your school to shoot people?" He told her and she looked up at him, surprised that he knew that. "His death has nothing to do with you… You've been through a lot too… I haven't seen everything but I know, Kaitlin. I know you had it rough and hard, but you stayed strong. He wasn't as strong as you… And his blood is not on your hands! It's never been! You need to understand that! Nothing you would have said would have changed his fate. You don't deserve any kind of burden. And you certainly don't deserve my burden!" His green eyes were locked with hers when they heard some running footsteps. They looked around and realized that they were somewhere else now._

_It was another hospital hallway. Kate frowned as she glanced around of her, without moving from Dean's hold. She noticed a little boy with three colored balloons jumping up and down while two nurses were running down the hallway. Kate recognized that boy as being the son of her cousin. Dean looked at Kate as she put her hands on his wrists, and pulled him away softly. She made two steps towards a door from where a dark-haired woman got out, crying silently before she went to the little boy. Dean watched Kate as she stood in the doorway. He heard someone crying loudly from the room, and he decided to approach her. He turned his head to see another version of Kate on her knees at a bedside, crying as her hands clung onto a man. In spite of the older features on the man's face, Dean recognized it as being Kate's father. He turned his head to the Kate standing at his side, as she was silently staring at the man laying down on the bed while her other self was devastated. Dean understood what that memory was. The day her father passed away._

"_I'm sorry," Dean whispered to her gently as he put his hand on her arm. She nodded her head slowly. "I was a real wreck when my father died too," he told her. "He wasn't as nice and good as your father, but he tried his best, I know he did…" Kate looked at him as his gaze was looking away. "It took me some time to accept his death… More than what I told you, and even more than what Sam thinks…"_

"_I haven't accepted yet… I don't want to," she whispered._

"_No one wants to."_

"_You know what happened right then," Kate said as she looked at the version of herself crying while clinging with all of her force at her father. "That's when I realized how really alone I was going to be then."_

"_You're not alone, Kaitlin," he told her as she turned her face to look at him, his gentle gaze met her sad gaze. He looked down at her and noticed she wasn't wearing the white dress anymore, only the casual clothes she was actually wearing when he found her on Bobby's couch. All of sudden, rain was pouring over them. They both looked up and the whole scenery changed once again. They were now standing in Bobby' salvage yard._

"_I don't understand what's happening," she said as she looked around._

"_I'm traveling in your memory lane," Dean told her and she looked at him. "I took some nasty beverage to get in your head and get you out of this very long sleep you're stuck in."_

"_Did you try the wake up kiss of the sleeping beauty before?" Kate asked, trying to joke a bit, but still saying it in a very flat tone. They were now completely wet from head to shoes, however they didn't really care. They had other things to care about._

"_No, I didn't think you'd be very happy with me kissing you while you're completely out," he replied with a weak smile as he looked at her wet hair._

"_Good point," she said as she spun around and looked at his freckled face on which drops of water were streaming down. Along with the dim light coming from Bobby's porch, his facial features looked less rough. It seemed to hold a much softer expression as his brow was furrowed slightly, trying to look at her in spite of the water getting on his eyelids. It was then that Kate realized how very beautiful he really was. She frowned at that sudden thought, and coughed a little bit as she looked away. "I didn't take anything to make me travel through my memory lane… So how is that I'm going wherever you're going?"_

"_I dunno," he replied shrugging when suddenly they noticed another version of her kicking Sam in his crotch. "Ouch."_

"_It's a memory from the first time, I got here…" Kate said as Dean reached for her hand. She looked down before looking up at his face, questioning him silently as his fingers wrapped around her hand._

"_Physical contact…I think that as long as we keep touching each other, we'll travel together."_

"_What makes you say that?"_

"_We were touching the two times the whole setting changed," he replied._

"_Makes sense, I suppose," she said as she turned her face away again. She closed her fingers around his hand._

"_Kaitlin, how long have you been having my memories?"_

"_For quite some time, but I couldn't remember them until… Until that day when the siren made you tape me on the bed," she replied as she kept her eyes focused on the cars, while the rain kept pouring over them._

"_Who did that to you?" He asked and felt her whole hand tense around his. He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, very gently, trying to reassure her that she didn't have anything to be afraid of. "Kaitlin, if you want me to help you-"_

"_You can't help me, Dean," she cut him off as she turned around and looked right into his eyes. "You can't take those memories away from me just like you can't take them away from you!"_

"_I need to understand why you're seeing them and living them! I-" He stopped as his eyes stared at something over her shoulder. She spun around to see an angel she hadn't seen for quite some time, standing there almost casually and almost too close to them._

"_You are not supposed to be here, Dean," the trench-coated angel said._

"_Oh yeah? And you're supposed to, Cass?" Dean asked the angel who glanced at Kate._

"_I have been sent to stop you two," Castiel replied._

"_What do you mean stop us?" Kate asked him._

"_You are going on a dangerous path," he replied as he looked directly at her before looking up at the hunter. "You were given an important mission, and you should not lose time on traveling in here instead of focusing on the mission."_

"_Oh yeah? You tell me why she's got my memories of Hell and I may go back to complete my mission or whatever," Dean replied as he stared at the angel with a hard look, thinking that the speech was completely directed to him even though the angel had looked at Kate too._

"_She isn't supposed to have them, you are right. And thus, it gives me the power to take them away," Castiel replied. "But you need to leave this place now, Dean."_

"_I'm not leaving until you-" Dean started before he suddenly vanished. Kate looked at Castiel._

"_What did you do to him?"_

"_Don't worry, I sent him back to his body. He is awake at Bobby Singer's now," the angel told her as she nodded._

"_Can you really take them away?" Kate asked Castiel who looked away. "You can't…"_

"_I'm sorry… Only Zachariah has a great skill with remodeling memories."_

"_Sure…" Kate said as she nodded._

"_I can stop the flashbacks, but I can't erase those memories completely from you… I don't have the right to do so. All I can do is lessen their presence."_

"_It's better than nothing, I guess," she replied in a little voice._

"_But, you have to pretend I have taken every single memories from Dean's time in Hell, away from you," Castiel told her. She frowned._

"_Castiel… How can you ask me to lie? I may not know you very much but I know you're not like Zachariah, or Uriel for that matter," she told him softly as his face was frowned in a hard and sad expression._

"_I must follow the orders, and so must you," he told her as he looked up at her._

"_So I'm supposed to pretend everything's okay, again? I'm supposed to lie?" She asked him before shaking her head, sighing. "Why are you doing this, Castiel?"_

"_You are not the only one, Heaven is keeping… _Motivated_," he told her as his blue eyes looked into her brown eyes, and she understood exactly what he meant by that._

* * *

><p>When Kate had woken up, she had been excepting everyone to ask her a thousand questions but they never did. She knew that Dean must have told them a few things he saw when he was wandering in her memory lane, and he must have asked them not to ask her anything. Kate had no idea how much Dean had seen, all she could remember was from the moment he put his hands on hers while she was undressing in this terrible room where his old rack was. Soon enough, everyone found something to do. Pamela was with Sam in the kitchen while he prepared some sandwiches while Dean was with Bobby at his desk. Kate had decided to go in Bobby's basement to take out her washed laundry from the washing machine.<p>

"Hey," The gentle low voice of Dean said making her turn around as she pulled out the last item out of the washing machine.

"Hey!"

"So, hum Sam and I are leaving… We got a case to check out," he told her as he stayed at the end of the stairs, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, Sam came to say goodbye a few minutes ago," she nodded her head as she played with a tank top in her hands, nervously.

"Alright, then that's it…" He said nodding his head before his brow furrowed a little bit. "Hum, can I ask you something?" He asked her.

"Sure, shoot."

"When you woke up earlier," he said as he took two steps towards her. "You didn't say anything… Did Castiel… Do you still remem-"

"I don't remember your memories of Hell," she cut him off as she looked at him, trying to look as convincing as possible. She knew that if she looked away he would understand she wasn't telling the truth. "I remember that I had them but I don't have a single clue of what they were…"

"You remember who gave them to you?"

"No," she lied and he nodded. Kate knew he bought her lie completely then. And it hurt her to lie that much to someone who was, obviously, truly concerned about her.

"Alright, that's better like that… It wasn't your burden," he told her and she frowned.

"It's not yours either," she told him. "Dean, you're not the same person than you were in Hell," he narrowed his eyes lightly. "I don't remember anything from your time in Hell, but I know that no matter what you did and what you were in Hell, it's not the same up here. The circumstances, the context… Everything is completely different there. And you should know that too, Dean." He was staring at her with a deep expression, as he tried to grasp at her words and the tenderness in which they were told to him. He gave her a soft little smile as he nodded.

"I'm gonna leave you at your laundry, then," he said before glancing down at her bare feet. He let out a light chuckle as he pointed at her feet. "Didn't you learn from last time that you should wear shoes?" She looked down and shrugged.

"Old habits die hard."

"Yeah," he nodded as he looked at her delicate face. He relished how he could feel that natural softness of hers irradiating from her, just like it used to. Along, there was this calm and soothing feeling he could never get tired of. However, he tried to block those feelings. He was going away with his brother for a few days, maybe more, and she wasn't going with them, so he wasn't going to enjoy any of those beautiful feelings. And, soon she was going to be in a whole other universe, completely and forever away from him. He cleared his throat as he tried to recompose himself. "Well, see ya, then," he turned around and Kate frowned.

"Dean, wait!" Kate exclaimed making him turn around as she put down the cloth in her hands and walked towards him. "I wanted to thank you," she told him softly as she looked up at him. He seemed a good head taller as he was standing on a step of the stairs.

"For what?"

"You know," she replied and he gave her a little nod. She walked on the same step he was standing on and looked at her with a puzzled frown. They were standing just a few inches away now. She stood on her tiptoes as she brought her hands up and wrapped them around his neck, hugging him tightly. He stood there, frozen. "I know we're not in a bed ready to fall asleep or in a bathroom ready to go back to our room and sleep, but I promise that I will pretend this hug never happened if you want me to," she whispered, her breath tickling his ear. He sniggered a chuckle as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Nah, it's okay," he replied in almost a whisper as he snuggled his face against her shoulder, smelling the soft vanilla scent of her as her curly and wavy hair was stroking his face softly. He shouldn't be doing that, he knew that very well. He shouldn't get too attached with someone who was inevitably going to leave him soon. Besides, he didn't deserve any of that. Yet, a few seconds later, he tightened his grip around her waist, as he realized that then again she didn't deserve his memories of Hell either, and still she had had them. Besides, she's stuck in this universe for now, so he could still enjoy as much as he could… _**Right?**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Two days later.<strong>_

_**Greybull, Wyoming.**_

Sam and Dean were in a cemetery, taking care of the case Bobby had given them in Wyoming. Bobby had called them almost as soon as they left his house, to give them a strange case that Kate had found on the newspaper. They had accepted to go check it out right after meeting the hunter who had called them. Bobby had explained to Sam that some town in Wyoming had people not dying while they should and it had been going on for more than a week, apparently. While talking to Bobby on the phone, Sam had heard Kate and Pamela talking on the background and he hadn't realized how much he had missed talking to the young brunette until that very moment. Sure, he had seen her just a couple of days ago but they hadn't have the occasion to share a truly good conversation with everything that happened back then. Besides, ever since what happened with the siren he hadn't called her, trying to work on his relationship with his brother first, while still seeing Ruby behind everyone's back. Sam felt a bit guilty for doing so, but he knew it was for the best reasons. Very soon, he will be strong enough to kill Lilith and prevent the apocalypse, he knew that.

"You sure this is gonna work?" Dean asked him. He was sitting on a gravestone, as he was flipping through their father's journal while Sam was standing at the stone of someone called Cole Griffith. It was a very cold night of mid-December, and Sam had felt his fingers freezing when arranging the cloth with a pentacle drawn on it, over the grave with five candles surrounding it. He put down a bundle of sticks in the center of the pentacle as he glanced at his brother.

"No. But if his spirit's around, this should smoke him out," Sam replied before he started pouring some kind of beverage he had prepared earlier, into a bowl. Dean closed the journal loudly. "What?"

"This job is jacked, that's what!"

"How so?"

"You want me to gank a monster or torch a corpse, hey, let's light it up, right?" Dean told him before waving his hand at the thing his brother had arranged on the grave. "But this? If we fix whatever this is, people are gonna start dropping dead. I don't understand why Bobby and Kate thought it'd be something nasty to stop. I mean those people who are gonna die, they're good people…"

"Look," Sam started as he stood up. "I don't want them to die, either, Dean, but there's a natural order."

"You're kidding, right?"

"What?" Sam asked.

"You don't see the irony in that? I mean, you and me, we're like the poster boys of the unnatural order. All we _do_ is ditch death," Dean told him.

"Yeah, but the normal rules don't really apply to us, do they?" Sam said to Dean who only stared at him before answering him.

"We're no different than anybody else."

"I'm infected with demon blood. You've been to hell," Sam reminded him. Dean just looked away, knowing far well how much his brother was right.

"Look, I know you want to think of yourself as Joe the Plumber, Dean, but you're not. Neither am I. Heck, the only person in our mad world who can just go back to an ordinary, monster-less life, it's Kate! And, it's simply because she's really not from this world. The sooner you accept that we're far from that, the better off you're gonna be," Sam told him.

"Ah, Joe the Plumber was a douche," Dean sighed.

"You gonna help me finish this?" Sam asked him as Dean nodded, standing up from the gravestone.

"Got some news from Kate?" Dean asked Sam who frowned.

"Hum, no. Why?"

"I dunno. Just asking," Dean said as he looked at his brother. "I got some," he added after a short silence.

"Bobby called?" Sam asked.

"No," Dean said shaking his head. "She did." Sam looked at Dean, a bit taken aback. He wasn't expecting Kate to call Dean. "She wanted to give me some quick information on the case and we ended up chatting a bit. She wanted to check on us, and she said hi, by the way."

"Really?" Sam asked him with an obvious, very surprised expression and tone.

"Yeah, really." Dean replied before he frowned his eyebrows. "Is that really impossible for me to chat with her on the phone?"

"Well, it's just so unlike you… I mean the only times you talk with a girl, it's to talk her to your bed. And, even that you don't do it over the phone with someone who's miles away," Sam replied, his brow furrowed. "You're not trying to talk her to your bed, Dean, right?"

"I'm not trying to talk her to my bed," Dean replied rolling his eyes. "Man, I don't even have a bed I can call mine!" Sam shook his head as he put his hand in his pocket looking for something in there. "But, what if I was?" Dean asked in a little voice after a couple of seconds of silence.

"Dean, no-"

"Look, I'm not. I really am not, Sam. I know she's off limits for a thousand reasons," Dean cut his brother's off, his hands up in the air. "But, I-I don't know…"

"Dean, she's off limits because she's Kate. Period." Sam interrupted his brother who rose his head slightly as he frowned a bit, and looked up at the dark sky. "I don't even know how you can think of her that way, after seeing so much hard memories of hers," he sighed as he pulled out a paper he started unfolding.

"I know I didn't use the right words… But I didn't mean just sex, you know…" Dean told his brother in an almost whisper. Sam looked up at Dean, with complete shock. He wasn't sure he had heard his brother well because if he had, this was a huge premiere coming from the older Winchester.

"What-" Sam started.

"Hey!" A man interrupted him. The brothers turned to look towards the voice. A man carrying a flashlight was walking towards them. "What are you doing here?"

"Huh…" Sam stuttered not knowing what to say as he glanced at Dean by his side.

"What the hell is this?" The man asked as he pointed his flashlight to the whole pattern on the grave.

"Okay, this—this—this is not what it looks like," Dean laughed nervously.

"Really? 'Cause it looks like devil worship."

"What? No! No, this is not devil worship. This—This is—this—this is, uh—" Dean stuttered even more than his little brother before giving up. "I don't have a good answer."

"We're leaving," Sam said to the man.

"You're not going anywhere," the man replied as Sam frowned. The man walked a few steps forward. "Ever again. Sam." He turned his gaze at Dean before flashing his eyes white.

"Alastair," Dean growled as the man's eyes go back to normal. "I thought you got deep fried, extra-crispy."

"Nah. Just the pediatrician I was riding. His wife's still looking for him. It's hilarious," Alastair replied before looking at Sam who was fuming. "Anyway. No time to chat. Got a hot date with death." Alastair flicked his hand and Dean went flying across the graveyard before colliding on a gravestone, passing out.

"Dean!" Sam shouted before Alastair turned to him and flicked his hand too. However, nothing happened this time so Alastair tried a second time making Sam smirk.

"You're stronger, Sam. You've been soloflexing with your little slut?" Alastair told him. "So does that mean you really are behind the death of that demon who was claiming to know where the most wonderful soul and meatsuit was?" Alastair smirked as Sam clenched his ja tightly. "By the way, you gotta know I'm not gonna give up on her. I will find her and I will enjoy every single moment with her… Just as much as I enjoyed every moment with your big brother in Hell," Alastair said with a devilish smirk before Sam flicked his hand throwing Alastair away. Sam raised his hand and held it up as he started to use the sort of psychic power the demon blood gave him, to exorcise Alastair. The demon didn't let him do as he flew out of the body he was possessing. Sam dropped his hand, surprised that it didn't work as the smoke of the demon vanished in the air.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.<strong>_

"Do I really need this idiot to drive me there?" Pamela said in an almost whine. The Winchester brothers had called her to ask her some psychic help an hour ago, and the woman wasn't very happy with that. She had spent the days after their departure at Bobby's, keeping company to the old man and the young lady. One day after the Winchesters left, Matthew had come back and even though, Pamela and Bobby acted as very annoyed by him, they liked the young man very much. Besides, he had made them have a good laugh more than once. Pamela had felt only good vibrations from the hunter and she knew that he was taking very good care of Kate, which made her a bit trustier about him.

"I can't let Kate go with you after what happened lately," Bobby replied as they were standing near the black SUV.

"Yeah. I know, I get it, Singer," Pamela told him as Matt and Kate walked out of the house.

"We've made some sandwiches for the road," Matt said as he approached Pamela with a little box, Kate right by his side.

"Huh, I suppose by _we've_ made, you mean _I_ have made everything while _you_ just stood there having a beer?" Kate said as she looked up at the man who shrugged.

"If you say so," he said before opening the car's door to put the lunch box in there. Kate shook her head, with a little amused smile. "Come on, Pamela. I drive you there and right after I've gotta meet Rufus."

"Be careful young boy, you're not gonna boss me around on this road trip," she told him as he chuckled before looking at Kate.

"See you later, Kate," he told her as he leaned down to hug her goodbye. "Don't forget to work on your shooting and a bit of stretching too."

"Sure," she groaned as they pulled apart.

"I'm serious," he said as he looked at her. "You may be a great bookworm and good at kicking once in a while, but you're still very lame at shooting."

"And how am I at throwing punches?" She asked as she playfully punched his arm. He pretended to be hurting as he held his arm.

"Please, no more," he pretended to beg making her giggle. He grinned at her before turning his head to the old man shaking his head as he stared at the two of them. "Sir!" Matt said to Bobby, his hand pulled out towards the old man.

"You call me when you're with Rufus," Bobby told him as he shook his hand. Matt nodded before looking at Kate and winking at her as he made his way to the driver's seat. "Pamela, you be careful!"

"Oh come on, Bobby. You should call your boys and tell them this. They are the ones who came up with this crazy idea," she told him as she gave him a little smile.

"Still," he told her as her smile widened. She opened her arms and hugged the old man.

"Don't worry about me, Singer. Worry about this pig-headed young lady," Pamela said as they pulled apart. He chuckled as he took a few steps back and Kate approached Pamela.

"The pig-headed young lady wishes you a nice trip with that charming driver of yours," Kate said jokingly as she wrapped her arms around the psychic.

"Thank you," Pamela replied chuckling as she rubbed Kate's back up and down. "You be careful, honey, alright?" She told her as she pulled apart, her hands still holding Kate's arms.

"Only if you promise to be as well," Kate replied making the psychic's lips turn into a gentle smile.

"You know it's a shame you're not from here, Kate. 'Cause there's so much things I would have loved to do with you aside from magic and psychic thing." Pamela told her making Kate let out a light laugh.

"I don't think I'm leaving yet, so we can still try some when you get back? What about Christmas diner, huh? It's Christmas in a few days, maybe we could celebrate it? You'd have to help me cook, though," Kate suggested as she glanced at Bobby by her side.

"As long as it doesn't step on my work," Bobby grumpily said.

"It's a deal!" Pamela told her as she slapped her hands playfully on Kate's arms before turning around to get in her seat. "See you later, honey."

"See you," Kate replied with a smile.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Greybull, Wyoming.<strong>_

"I can't begin to tell you how crazy you two are," was the first thing Pamela said as she walked in Sam and Dean's motel room after a three hours trip with a young hunter that she realized wasn't that bad. She felt the counter then the chair as Sam closed the door he had opened.

"Well, Pamela, you're a sight for sore eyes," he told her making her turn around and lowering her sunglasses far enough to reveal the white plastic eyes she had.

"Aw, aren't you as sweet as Matt and Kate?" Pamela told him before putting her sunglasses back. "So grumpy, what do you say to deaf people?" Dean looked down as he and his little brother felt a bit uncomfortable. "Which one of you brainiacs came up with astral projection?"

"Yo," Dean said as he raised his hand.

"Of course. Chachi," she said as Dean turned to Sam mouthing 'Chachi' to which Sam only shrugged. "Kate owes me 10 dollars."

"What?" Sam asked confused.

"Kate thought you'd be the one coming up with this crazy idea. She said Dean would more likely want to leave that town like that, while you'll be more ready to hunt whatever is preventing those people from dying," she replied as the brothers looked at each other. "Anyway. Let's be very clear. You want to rip your souls out of your bodies and take a little stroll through the spirit world?"

"Mm-hm," Dean confirmed.

"Do you have any idea how heavy-duty insane that is?" Pamela asked them as she folded her arms.

"Maybe, but that's where the reaper is, so..." Dean started.

"So, it's nuts," she finished.

"Not if you know what you're doing," he said.

"You don't know what you're doing," she said back.

"No, but you do," Dean finally said making her sigh.

"Yeah, I do. And guess what? I'm sick of being hauled back into your angel-demon, Soc-Greaser crap."

"Look, I'd love to be kicking back with a cold one, watching Judge Judy, too," Dean told her in reply.

"Nice. More blind jokes?" She asked him bitterly this time.

"You know what I mean." He replied.

"Do you enjoy that much getting your conscious or soul out of your body and wander everywhere else, Dean? I mean, come on a couple of days ago you were already in Kate… _Oh wait_. That came out wrong. Don't tell her I said this," Pamela said as Sam's eyebrows rose a bit amused, and Dean sighed.

"Look, I got it. But, we're talking the end of the world here, okay? No more tasseled leather pants, no more Ramones CDs, no more nothing," Dean told her before pausing. "We need your help."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.<strong>_

Kate was watching Matt taking a few weapons out of his car as he put them in an empty duffle bag. He had just come back from his little trip down to drop Pamela off with the Winchesters, and seeing Rufus. Kate had seen his car parking outside through the window, and she had walked out to welcome immediately. Bobby had shouted at her to put on some shoes before going out, which she obliged without saying a word.

Here she was standing in only a pair of jeans, a black long-sleeved shirt and her sneakers, holding a flashlight over Matt's hood as he put some weapons in his duffle bag. His collection of weapons was impressive, just as much as Sam and Dean's, and Bobby's. The first time her eyes had settled on the weapons Bobby had in his car, she had been quite shocked and scared too. However, it was the collection in his house that had scared Kate completely. It was a massive collection and Kate was sure he had every possible weapons to kill any creatures. She had also noticed that he had a few weapons and tools that she had never seen nor in real life nor in movies, and truth be told she wasn't very eager in knowing what exactly they were used for. Now, she was kind of used of seeing all those weapons, and knowing that they were using it for saving people made it all very less scary.

"Are you gonna ask more weapons to Santa Claus?" Kate asked him playfully as she stood next to the blue-eyed hunter, rubbing her free hand up and down the arm she held up to light his hood. She was trying to keep herself as warm as possible. He glanced at her with a smirk upon his lips.

"Might do," he replied as he looked at the movement of her free hand. "Why don't you go back inside and put something on? At least the leather jacket Pamela gave you."

"Nah, it's too far away", she replied and he glanced between her and the front door that was only five feet away, and shook his head. "And I wanna stay with you. I missed you while you were away."

"If you think flattering me will get me to give you a nice and easy training later, you're dreaming, baby," he told her as she rolled her eyes at the nickname.

"How are the boys anyway?" She asked him, changing the subject.

"The boys? I only met Rufus for like ten minutes before driving back here," he replied before throwing a glance at her and stopping what he was doing. "Oh you mean the Winchesters," he said as he put down the duffle bag and turned around to face her completely.

"Yeah. I mean you left Pamela with them, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did. But I dropped her off in front of their motel, then I just hit the road again," he replied. "So I haven't seen your boys." He eyed her up and down, almost analysing her, before crossing his arms over his chest and giving her a large smirk. "Which one?"

"What do you mean _'which one'_?" She asked him confused as she kept on rubbing her hand up and down, the flashlight lowered a little bit.

"Oh you know what I mean," he replied and her eyebrows shot up in her forehead as she genuinely had no idea. "Come on, Kate! Which one makes you want to dance the horizontal tango? "

"Excuse me?" She breathed out, completely taken aback by his question, her hands falling down at her sides. "No one makes me want to dance the horizontal tango!"

"Oh, then you're more into a horizontal slow dance?" He teased her.

"What? No! You're completely mistaken about my friendship with them... It's only platonic friendship between me and them," she replied and he narrowed his eyes.

"You're sure about that?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed and he huffed as he turned around. He snapped his fingers before pointing down at the flashlight in her hand. She sighed as she brought it up and he put his attention back to filling his duffle bag with his weapons he had said he was supposed to clean. After a short moment of silence in which Kate couldn't help wondering why Matt thought there was between her and Sam and Dean, he spoke in a very thoughtful voice.

"It's better this way... Your uncle Bobby is pretty smart to believe you should know some things of this wild world, but I'm sure he thinks like me when I say it's better not to get more involved with that world, like emotionally involved, or you know, this kind of shit."

"Like having a relationship you mean?" Kate asked him in a little voice as he nodded. "Did you ever get emotionally involved in this way?" He turned his head to her, and his blue eyes met her brown eyes immediately. She knew the answer was _yes_ even though he stayed quiet as he turned his attention back to his weapons. "You never told me how you became a hunter, Matthew," she told him in a softer voice.

"Aah!" He exclaimed as he finished filling his bag, put it over his shoulder and closed the hood. He turned to look at her. "It's a long boring story," he said to her before starting to walk towards Bobby's front door. "Trust me, it's a waste of time to tell it and to listen to it!"

Kate stared at him as he opened the door and got it. Her eyebrows frowned a little bit as she stared at the door in which Matt disappeared. Standing in the cold air of this winter season, outside the house of that old hunter, she remembered what Rufus had told her some time ago. How hunters usually become hunters because something awful happened to them. She couldn't help wondering what had happened to Matt who always acted so goofy, happy and careless...

* * *

><p><em><strong>A few hours later.<strong>_

"Hmph!" Kate let out as she fell hard on her back, her eyes closed.

"Dead," Matt said as she opened her eyes to find him looking down at her, as he mimicked a hand firing a gun at her.

"It's not fair," she panted as he smirked down at her.

"It's never fair out there, Kate. I thought you figured it out by now," he replied as he walked to the towel hanging on the back of a chair. They had been training some fighting in Bobby's panic room for about an hour now. Matt knew Kate had very good fighting skills, but he still thought she should learn how to avoid some tricky and completely unfair kicks some monsters could do out there.

He walked towards her, grabbing the two bottles of water in the way before sitting down next to her on the rather large gym carpet he had brought here a few weeks ago for their training. He slid one bottle over her as she stayed laying on her back, trying to regain her breath back. His blue eyes glanced down at her as she was dressed in only a tee-shirt and a pair of joggings. The hem of her tee-shirt was up a little bit, which made him notice something above her left hip. He glanced at the face of the closed-eyes woman and then tried to get a better look at her hip.

"You got a tattoo?" He asked her all of sudden. She opened her eyes and held herself on her elbows before glancing down at her tee-shirt. She pulled down the hem of it and sat up, her eyes glaring at him. "What? Is that a secret you keepin' from your uncle?" He teased her.

"No," Kate replied as she bit on her bottom lip, taking the bottle and unscrewing it. He looked at her as she brought the bottle to her lips.

"Is that a tattoo you regret, like Pamela?" He asked her jokkingly and she couldn't help the little chuckle as she put the bottle away.

"No, it's just very personal and has a lot of meanings for me," she replied, looking up at his deep blue eyes. He pursed his lips slightly and gave a little nod as he unscrewed his bottle and started drinking too. "Anyways, when you were with Rufus, was he that hard on you?"

"You kiddin' right?" He scoffed. "I'm very soft on you. Rufus was a fuckin' dictator on me!"

"Still, Bobby said you're Rufus little protégé," Kate told him as she brought her forearm up to wipe the sweat on her forehead away.

"That's such a pejorative way to sum up who I am," he said before throwing his towel at her. She made a little disgusted face as she threw it back at him and stood up. "But if you'd rather, I'm okay with it."

"How did you meet?" Kate asked as she grabbed her towel a few feet away and wiped her whole sweaty face. She looked at him as he stared down at his bottle, a deep expression all over his face. "Matt?"

"You know there's something I still don't understand?" He told her with a suddenly amused tone and she frowned her eyebrows.

"What?" She asked him, puzzled.

"You."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. I don't know... You give off this full radiant feeling of a cool and happy girl but you've got this little touch," he said as he brought his hand up and rubbed his pointer finger with his thumb. "A touch of deep sadness."

"That's bullshit," she scoffed avoiding his gaze.

"You wouldn't have reacted that way if it was," he told her as he stood up and walked towards her. She looked up at him, almost defiantly.

"Well, in that case, you're not that much different from me," she told him. He rose his eyebrows as he was standing right in front of her, only a few inches separating them. Bobby's voice shouted their names from upstairs.

"Maybe, but unlike you, I don't deny it," he told her in a calm voice.

"Well, I'm sorry but that's the way I am," she replied shrugging slightly.

"You idjits better not make me come down there!" Bobby's voice shouted loudly.

"Better go see your uncle," Matt told her with a little smile. He turned around and walked before stopping at the doorway. He turned around and looked at her. "You know, Kate, it's okay to act the way you do... I mean, every hunters have their fair share of sadness, they don't wanna show, you know."

"I'm not a hunter," she replied in a soft voice as her eyebrows were slightly frowned.

"Oh you are," he told her as he turned around and started to walk away. "You just don't know it, yet."

* * *

><p>The water was hot, relaxing and getting rid of the tension as it streamed down her back. Kate turned around and let it fall on her face, then her hair. Her hand washing back her hair that looked black when wet. It felt good to take such a hot shower after all the training she had done with Matt earlier that evening. But, it was more than that. She wanted to wash away the bad sensation she had been feeling ever since what Matt had told her. She knew she wasn't a hunter, and just being around in this world didn't make her one. Sure, she had helped a few hunters on different cases with research but it didn't make her a hunter at all. And sure, she had gone to a few hunts but it was mainly some consequences of sequenced events, and it definitely didn't make her a hunter. She was just a girl stuck in this world until they figured out how to overcome the two obstacles left. Those two obstacles were obviously still the enigma on how to send her back to the right universe and the enigma of when precisely to do so.<p>

Besides, a few days ago, another problem had been added to the list. Pamela and Bobby had told her that before she got stuck in her own mind, she had said that there was someone standing a bit afar from where her car had stopped before she got aspired in the big black hole. The thing was that she didn't remember seeing anyone at all. Pamela had explained to her that it was because her subconscious saw it and took note of it far behind in her mind while her conscious took it as an unimportant detail back when it happened.

Kate sighed as she rubbed her hands over her face and then slid them over her hair. She decided to stop over-thinking and to enjoy that hot shower before going to sleep. She turned around to let the water pour on her back and shoulders once again, opening her eyes slightly. She let out a little scream when she saw the silhouette of a man behind the curtain.

"What the hell?! Matt, I swear to-"

"This is not Matt," a rough voice interrupted her. She frowned as she recognized it.

"Castiel?"

"Yes."

"Castiel, what the hell are you doing here? I'm having a shower, don't they know what that is in Heaven and what that means when someone's having one?" She groaned.

"We do. But, we don't need them, thus we don't really know what that means when someone has one. Although, I do believe that is routine humans have to wash the dirt away from their bodies," he replied as she frowned and pulled the curtain a little bit to let out just her head.

"What are you doing here, Castiel?" She asked him in an almost monotone, flat tone as she gave him a little glare.

"I had to visit you."

"You mean Zachariah sent you, right?" She asked him.

"Hum, no," he replied as he looked at the mirror fully covered of steam as she closed the tap water. "I chose to visit you."

"You chose? I thought you had orders to follow and couldn't think on your own?" She asked him, surprised.

"I do have orders. But, I had to see you to remind you of your mission," he replied as Kate glanced down at his trench-coat and wondered if he ever changed.

"Which one?"

"Both. To make the Winchesters do what Heaven orders them, and to help stop the breaking of the seals," he told her and she scoffed as she stood behind the curtain, her hands holding on it.

"And you're sure no one sent you here?"

"Yes, I am sure," he replied as his intense blue eyes bared into her brown eyes. "However, I am here because I know that soon, you will face Zachariah if you don't start acting on the breaking seals."

"What the hell does that mean? I'm not a hunter… I'm not even from this universe, Castiel!" She replied, upset and lost as to why she should be the one doing this and not anyone else.

"You have been chosen to know where and when a huge numbers of the seals are going to happen, in order to stop them. Because of that, you are the only one who can help the Winchesters efficiently."

"Yeah," she sighed as she looked down for a second before looking into his eyes. "Castiel, back when you popped into my head or whatever, you said you were _motivated _by Heaven too… What do they do to you?" She asked him gently. His whole face turned into a hard expression as if he had sensed something. He frowned, looked to a wall before glancing at her and suddenly vanishing into thin air. Kate bit on her lips, looking down, shaking her head as she realized how messed up this whole universe really was.

* * *

><p>"You and Sam just saved a seal. We captured Alastair. Dean, this was a victory," Castiel told Dean as he stood in front of him. They were standing in some empty streets after Alastair was taken away by some violent white-blue light.<p>

"Well, no thanks to you," Dean replied bitterly.

"What makes you say that?" Castiel asked, his eyes narrowed at the hunter.

"You were here the whole time?"

"I was with Kate a few minutes ago-"

"What? Is she okay?"

"Well, I suppose. All I am sure of is that she was naked," the angel replied and Dean stared at him.

"What? I'm-I'm not sure I got it right," he stuttered.

"She was having a shower when I came to… See if she was alright," Castiel replied.

"And it took you all this time to see if she was alright?" Dean asked him, his eyebrows frowned.

"No, I was here before I went to visit her," the angel replied and Dean's eyebrows rose.

"Oh then, thanks for your help with the rock salt!"

"That script on the funeral home—we couldn't penetrate it," Castiel explained.

"That was angel-proofing," Dean said as he remembered all the symbols written back there everywhere.

"Why do you think I recruited you and Sam in the first place?" Castiel asked him as he watched Dean's face.

"You recruited us?" Dean asked, his eyebrows raising.

"When Kate found the case on the newspaper, she mentioned it to Bobby who wanted to send someone else on that case… But I convinced him on calling you."

"What do you mean convinced him? What did you do to him?"

"I just whispered into his ear," Castiel simply replied.

"Why so? If you want our help, why the hell didn't you just ask?"

"Because whatever I ask, you seem to do the exact opposite," the angel answered as he looked up at the hunter with an almost hard stare.

"So, what now, huh? The people in this town, they just gonna start dying again?"

"Yes."

"These are good people. What, you think you can make a few exceptions?"

"To everything there is a season," Castiel just in reply as he stood there, looking away from Dean whose gaze was glued to the trench-coated man.

"You made an exception for me," Dean remarked as Castiel turned to look at him.

"You're different… You and Kate seem to forget that a lot."

"What do you mean me and Kate? What has she to do with any of that?" Dean asked him, his voice still as hard as before but a little bit more curious as well.

"You two believe that what applies to you, is supposed to apply to everybody. You always ask yourself '_why me?_' or '_why not the others?_'. All you have to understand is that you are different." Castiel said before disappearing, making Dean clench his teeth a little bit when suddenly the pretty reaper appeared next to him.

"Dean," Tessa said as he looked at her. "I could use your help."

* * *

><p>Back in Sam and Dean's motel room, the injured Pamela was sitting on the edge of Dean's bed, one hand to the stab wound the demon did to her, leaning on the other as she recounted something to wake up Dean.<p>

"Imum vult decipi, ergo decipiatur. Vis, vis, vis," she got up to move to the other bed as Sam quickly went to help her.

"Hey, we just got to talk to Tessa, that's all. Get her to hold off reaping till we get you better," Sam told her gently, trying to reassure himself and the psychic that she was going to make it through.

"I'm pretty sure she's started up again," the psychic replied as blood was pouring over her hand. Sam looked at her with an alarmed expression.

Suddenly, Dean took a deep breath as he sat up. Pamela took a drink as she was breathing harder and harder. The elder Winchester turned his head to have his gaze fall on Pamela's blood.

"What happened?" He asked as worry filled him completely in the lapse of a second.

"Dean, where's Tessa?" Sam asked him.

"She's..." Dean started as he looked at the psychic feeling guilty. Everything was going to turn back to normal in this town. People who were supposed to die, are going to die and life will return to normal. The woman sensed Dean's vibrations of guilt and hopelessness, he didn't need to finish his phrase for her to understand what was going to happen to her. She took off her sunglasses and Sam swallowed.

"Pamela, I'm so sorry," Sam said and she shook her head.

"Stop," she told him.

"You don't deserve this," he insisted as Dean simply stared at her quietly.

"Yeah, I don't. I told you I didn't want anything to do with this. Do me a favor? Tell that bastard Bobby Singer - to go to hell for ever introducing me to you two in the first place," she told them before coughing.

"Take it easy, Pamela. If it's any consolation, you're going to a better place," Dean told Pamela who turned her head towards him.

"Kate said you were a bad liar," she said as she coughed. "Damn how right she was!" Sam looked at his brother, as the same guilt started to fill him more and more every second. "But what the hell, right? Everybody's gotta go sometime… That's what I tried to tell Kate... Oh boy, she's gonna hate me for ruining her Christmas plans… Aah she wanted to make a little diner, I was supposed to help her cook," she coughed as she laughed. "How was I even supposed to do that without seeing?" She coughed harder before she beckoned Sam closer. "Come-come here." Sam leaned close to her, and she whispered in his ear. "I know what you did to that demon, Sam," Sam's eyes widened. "I can feel what's inside of you. If you think you have good intentions, think again." She coughed again louder and leaned back against the headboard. "You boys, you take care of her, okay?" Her breath was heavy and sounded like it hurt her. "You promise me to keep her safe, you hear me?" The two brothers nodded as a trickle of blood came out of her mouth. "She's a good girl… Really…" She let out in a breath. Sam and Dean stared at her and frowned.

"Pamela?" Sam said to the woman who was completely still all of sudden. Her head slid down slowly.

"Pamela!" Dean shouted. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath that he exhaled two seconds later. He looked at his brother for a moment. "W hat did she say to you?" Sam only looked away from his brother.

* * *

><p><em>Heat. High flames. Sharp nails anchoring her to the middle of this fire. Screams. A diabolical laugh. Boiling hot water poured over head. Higher flames. A piercing scream.<em>

"Aah!" Kate screamed as she sat up on her bed and opened her eyes. She panted as she tried to catch her breath back, her hands clutching at her chest where she could feel her heart ready to burst out of there.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and there stood Bobby in his usual clothes and Matt in a pair of boxers and a whit tee-shirt. The younger hunter was holding a gun while the older one was holding a long sharp blade. She looked at them, her eyes wide.

"You're okay?" Matt asked her as she nodded.

"Just a nightmare," she mumbled.

"You screamed like if you were attacked by somethin'!" Bobby exclaimed as he lowered his weapon and walked to her. "You sure you alright?"

"I'm fine, Bobby," she replied nodding her head, as he switched on the lamp at her bedside.

"What kind of nightmares can make someone scream like that?" Matt said making Kate glance up at him. Bobby turned to look at Matt.

"Why don't you go downstairs and prepare her some hot chocolate?"

"Sure," Matt nodded as he looked back and forth at them before walking out. Bobby turned his attention back to Kate.

"You wanna talk 'bout it?" He asked her as she looked up at him, and shrugged. He sat down on her bed and turned slightly so he could face her. She was wearing a long-sleeved as it was very cold lately and half of her body was covered by the two thick blankets she had put on her bed. "Does it have something to do with what happened a few days ago?"

"What do you mean?" She asked in a little voice. She was pretty sure that Dean had never told anyone else what he had seen exactly when he was wandering in her mind. From what she had gathered, she knew that all they were aware of was that she somehow had some memories of Dean's time in Hell and the other things was that she had pretty complicated teenage years.

"You know…" The old man said hesitating to say the words out loud.

"Are you talking about Hell's memories?" She asked him and the expression she could see on his face thanks to the lamp's light made it clear that she had guessed right. "No… I don't have any memories of Hell anymore," she told him as he nodded. Of course, it was a lie but she couldn't do otherwise, could she now?

"So, what was that?"

"Hum… A weird mix of nightmares," she lied, shrugging. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at her. "Anyways, why aren't you in your pj's?"

"I'm still working," he told her.

"What? What time is it?"

"Four in the morning," he replied.

"You should be sleeping, Bobby," she said as he scoffed.

"I had two great naps earlier, I'm good," he replied. Her lips formed a little, tender smile as she looked at the old man.

"What are you working on?"

"Those coordinates you gave me," he replied and she remembered that after her shower she had written down at least ten coordinates of where some seals were supposed to happen in the upcoming week. "And by the way, your researches were really good 'cause it turned out that those places do have weird things happening. I've already phoned a few hunters to send them there."

"Good," she said nodding her head.

"I'm pretty sure your scream and those coordinates are linked," he told her and she stopped breathing as her eyes got a bit round.

"What-what do you mean?"

"You research too much, Katie! All you do is read about all those nasty things, it had to affect your dreams sooner or later," he told her and she let out a breath. She chuckled nervously as he stood up. "You should stop doing all those kind of things, and just rest. If you want I can even stop yor training with Matt-"

"No, no," she cut him off. "I'm okay and I like it." He nodded, remembering that Pamela told him she wanted to be useful.

"Alright," he said as he put his hand on the top of her wild hair and patted gently. "I'm gonna bring you that hot chocolate and you just go back to sleep, alright kiddo?"

"I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep now," she replied as she pushed the blankets away and stood up. "I could keep you company downstairs until sleep catches me back?"

"Sounds good," he replied with a smile as they walked to the door. He stopped and turned around. "Put something on." He told her pointing at her bare feet. She rolled her eyes, nodding her head as he walked out and she grabbed the pair of slippers he had bought her a few days ago.

* * *

><p>Once downstairs, Kate's eyes widened as they travelled all around the living room. Many books were scattered all around the room. Piles of books surrounded Bobby's desk, a couple of maps were covering his whole desk as two books were opened not far from a notebook and two bottles of beer. On the floor, there was a giant world map on which some post-its were pressed on different countries. She looked up at Bobby who was taking a few other books her had left open on the coffee table. Feeling her eyes on him, the old man turned around.<p>

"What?"

"What? Bobby look around you," she said and he did so. He walked to his desk with the few books in his arms and put them on his desk.

"Told you it wouldn't last," he told her as she followed him with her eyes. He put his hands on his desk and looked at her. "Look, I had to check out your coordinates and then I found out they matched with a few things I had read, so I started looking for those things. And guess what? Most of the coordinates you found really are seals." She looked at him and tried to pretend to be a bit surprised.

"Hot chocolate for everybody," Matt exclaimed as he walked in the living room with a plate on which he had put three mugs.

"So, yeah, good job, Katie," Bobby told her as she turned around to take her hot chocolate.

"Where did you sleep if Bobby worked here?" Kate asked Matt as she held the warm cup in her hands, standing at the doorway separating the living room from the hallway.

"In one of the rooms upstairs," he replied as he walked to Bobby.

"What's that?"

"Hot chocolate, sir," Matt replied as Kate noticed he was wearing his pants now. He must have put it on before preparing those drinks.

"Do I look like someone who drinks hot chocolate for ya?" Bobby grumbled at him. Kate couldn't help the little chuckle.

"Everyone loves hot chocolate," she told the old hunter who gave her an almost dirty look. She laughed.

"I put some scotch in it for you, sir," Matt told Bobby who narrowed his eyes as he glanced down at the mugs. He shrugged and took one. Suddenly, one of Bobby's phone rang as Matt put his mug on the table with the plate and looked up at Kate as he sat down on the couch. "Do your uncle ever switch off from all of that?"

"Not that I've seen," she replied as she brought the mug up to her lips and drank a little sip.

"Yeah?" Bobby said as he picked up the phone. "Hey Sam," Kate glanced at the old man before looking back at the young man sitting on the couch, across from her. He brought his wrist up and tapped on his watch as he made a surprised expression, telling her it was a very late hour to make a call. She shrugged. The Winchesters were always like that. They had already called at inappropriate hours and Bobby never seemed to react badly at that. "What?" The old man said as his whole facial expression dropped to one of shock. Kate frowned as she watched him. "Yeah… No, no… I'll call you but yeah… We need to make it here…" Bobby said in a little voice before hanging up.

"What's wrong, Bobby?" Kate asked softly, a bit concerned that something bad might have happened to one of the Winchesters. As it was Sam who called, Kate realized that something must have happened to Dean. "Is Dean alright?"

"Yeah," Bobby let out in a breath as he stayed shocked on his chair, behind his desk. His eyes were glued to the void across from him.

"Then what's wrong?" Kate asked him as Matt stared at the old man.

"Pamela…" He whispered before he turned his head to look at Kate and told her the news.

The grip of Kate's hands around the mug lost its whole strength as shock spread all over herself. The mug slowly dropped on the floor, shattering in pieces as the hot chocolate splashed on her slippers and on one of four corners of the world map on the floor. Her shaky hands went up to her lips as tears quickly formed in her eyes. The blue-eyed hunter stood up from the couch in a swift movement and appeared at her sides in no time. His arms wrapped around the woman who was bending over, her legs ready to give up under the shock. He held her against him as she started to cry.

"_**Pamela's dead."**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Mitchell, South Dakota. Graceland Cemetery.<strong>_

_**One day later.**_

Her brown gaze was lost as she was standing in front of the newly done grave of one of the rarest persons she felt the closest in this universe just as much as in her whole life. In a couple of months, this brown-head psychic, had showed her an affection and genuine gentleness that her own mother had difficulty to show on her best days. She was standing there in silence while the funeral was over, wearing a knee-long black dress and the black high-heels Matt had bought her before she joined the Winchesters on their case at their old high school. She hadn't changed from her pj's ever since Bobby announced the bad and sad news, until Bobby told her there was going to be a funeral at in the Graceland's cemetery where most of the psychic's family was already buried. Bobby had insisted on her putting something appropriate for Pamela's funeral. She couldn't show up in her pj's in front of the psychic's relatives. Thus, she had obliged, but had added on something else. As freezing cold as it was, she didn't want to go to Pamela's funeral without wearing the leather jacket the woman had offered her. She could remember very clearly the day Pamela gave it to her. She had told her it was one of her favourite's jacket but that she wanted Kate to have it, because it would look gorgeous on her. She remembered how the woman had been surprised when Kate had told her she had never ever worn a leather jacket at all, because she had always thought it wouldn't look good on her.

Kate felt a hand caressing her cheek. She looked up to see Matt, looking down at her with a soft expression.

"Just wiping away a tear," he told her as she glanced around and noticed that no one else was left around them. Her eyes stopped when they landed on Dean, standing feet away with Bobby. Dean turned his head and met her gaze. They looked into each other's eyes as she brought her hand up to pull Matt's hand away from her face. He turned around and noticed the man whose eyes were locked with hers. "Is that Sam Winchester?"

"No, that's Dean," she replied, her voice raspy from all the crying she had done in almost twenty-four hours. Matt nodded as he put his hand on her lower back, which made Dean break eye contact as he glanced at the man making Kate walk towards him.

Once they approached them, Dean's eyes fell to Kate's face and he noticed how red her eyes were. She tried to give him a smile but it only turned out as one of the weakest smile he's ever seen her give anyone. She brought her hands up around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist. She buried her face in the crook of his neck as he felt the tip of her cold nose rub his skin there. Dean glanced at the blue-eyed man who was as tall as he was.

"Matt," he said as he shook Sam's hand, Bobby standing near them.

"Oh nice to meet you," Sam replied. "I'm Sam Winchester, and this is Dean."

"I wish we could have met on different circumstances," Matt said as Kate pulled away from Dean. He looked down at her as she slid her hands on his shoulders, then his arms.

"I'm sorry," Dean told her as she shook her head.

"It's not your fault," she replied making him notice the raspiness in her voice. She glanced at Sam who gave her a sad smile. She walked to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I thought you weren't coming," she told him.

"It wouldn't have been right," Sam replied as he rubbed his hands up and down her back. Bobby's phone rang.

"I gotta take it, I got a few hunters to take away every items linked to the hunting job from her palce before her niece gets there," the old man in the grey suit told them as he walked away. Kate pulled apart from Sam.

"What happened exactly there?" Matt asked as Kate took a few steps back and stared at the Winchesters.

"The job happened," Dean replied dryly. Matt turned his blue eyes towards Dean, and swallowed as he nodded.

"Yeah, I got it, but… Pamela's not the kind to get more involved than doing her psychic thing," Matt said as Kate glanced at him.

"She got attacked by a demon," Sam explained.

"And where were you guys?" Matt asked as he looked back and forth at them. Dean glared at the hunter.

"We were busy tryin' to save the world," he told him bitterly. Kate looked up at Dean and realized that he wasn't in the mood to answer any of Matt's questions.

"Matt, stop," she said as she put her hands on his forearms and looked up at him. "Pamela just passed away, I don't think any of us need to know why or how." He looked down, met her pleading eyes and he nodded.

"Sorry guys, I'm just over the edge with that," he told them as he slid his hand on Kate's back as she turned around to look at the Winchesters. She looked at them softly as Matt's arm was around Kate and his hand was rubbing up and down her arm. The gesture didn't get unnoticed by Dean's eyes at all.

"It's okay, I guess, we're all on the edge," Sam replied nodding his head. "So, you're the guy who's training Kate, right?"

"Yeah, I am," he replied. "She's pretty good, but still got a lot to learn."

"Are you guys coming to Bobby's with us?" Kate asked the brothers all of sudden and Sam looked at her and made a little wincing expression.

"Sorry, can't do. We got a lead to Cheyenne," he replied when Matt's phone rang.

"Sorry," he said as he pulled his hand away from Kate and took his phone out of his pocket. "Gotta get that." He walked away, Kate looking at him before turning her head towards the two brothers.

"So, you're pretty cozy with little Matt-y here, huh," Dean said, his voice sarcastic and accusing.

"What?" She asked in sync with Sam as they looked at Dean with confusion.

"Nothing," Dean sighed as he shook his head while Kate brought her hands up to her arms, rubbing them up and down to keep herself as warm as possible. "Anyway, we better hit the road, now."

"Already?" Kate asked as she looked at the younger Winchester.

"We got a lead on Lilith. We better not lose anytime," he explained and she nodded slowly. Her wild curls bouncing slightly at the movement.

"We'll come back as soon as we're done," Sam told her as he leaned down to hug her goodbye.

"You take care of you, boys," she said as she hugged him and he pulled apart with a little smile.

"Take care of yourself, too, Katie," Sam said as he looked at his brother who was shrugging his jacket off.

"You're gonna catch a cold if you stay like this," he told her as he pulled his arms out of the sleeves. She watched him, pretty taken aback. He made one step towards her and put his jacket over her shoulders.

"What about you?" She asked in a little voice.

"I got another one in the car," he replied as he started doing the pockets of his jacket. She glanced at Sam over Dean's shoulder. The younger Winchester gave her a corner smile as Dean pulled out a few things from his pockets. He handed some to Sam. "But, I need those things, though," he told her as he finished pulling out a few papers, little bags that looked like hexbags among other things. He handed them all to Sam who sighed as he pulled them in his pockets. Dean looked at Kate and noticed Matt walking towards them. Dean clenched his teeth a little bit before his green eyes looked down at the brunette' soft face. He couldn't help the little smiel that grew on his lips as he scanned her face. He brought his hands under his jacket, on her shoulders and pulled her hair out.

"You guys are leaving?"Matt said as Dean ignored him while Sam gave him an affirmative answer. Dean helped Kate slide her hands through the long sleeves of his sort of military jacket.

"You be careful," Dean told her in a soft voice as he finished.

"You too," she whispered to him as he leaned down and hugged her. His eyes sending a dirty look at Matt before he pulled away from her.

As he walked towards his car, with his little brother, Dean struggled with himself not to turn around.

"What was that about?" Sam asked all of sudden as he looked at his brother who obviously was already freezing cold without his jacket.

"What?"

"You getting all chivalrous with Kate," Sam replied as his brother kept his gaze focused on his Baby a few feet away. It was the only way to keep himself from giving in and turning around to look at her with that hunter. He frowned at the thought. "It's just so uncharacteristic from you."

"I was only doing what Pamela asked us," he replied as he made bigger footsteps, leaving his brother to catch up with him.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, Sam was the one driving his brother and himself down the road to Cheyenne. Dean had tried sleeping but he had woken up after not even fifteen minutes. He was tired, and guilt was eating him from inside at the thought of Pamela's death.<p>

"Ruby will meet us outside Cheyenne. Like I told you she's been tracking some leads. I know she's not exactly on your Christmas list, but if she can help us get to Lilith-" Sam started to tell his brother when the music on the radio stopped and silence grew in the car.

"Hey, man, work with Ruby, don't. I don't really give a rat's ass," Dean grumbled making Sam frown.

"What's your problem?"

"Pamela didn't want anything to do with this and we dragged her back into it, Sam," Dean replied.

"She knew what was at stake," Sam told him, trying to make him understand that they shouldn't blame themselves more.

"Oh yeah. Saving the world. And we're doing such a damn good job of it," Dean said sarcastically. "Heck, even Kate who's not from here is doing a better job than us lately! You heard Bobby, she found at least twelve fuckin' seals on her own. She could save the world on her own, and get back to her universe for tea in less than a week, while all we do is get people killed!"

"Dean-"

"I'm tired of burying friends, Sam," Dean admitted, his voice showing the exhaustion of it all.

"Look, we catch a fresh trail-"

"And we follow it, I know," Dean cut his brother off, nodding his head slowly. "Like I said, I'm just - I'm just getting tired."

"Well, get angry."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.<strong>_

Kate was sitting on the couch, her eyes glued at the medium box on the coffee table. In a pair of black jeans and a zip-hoodie over her white tee-shirt, she was playing unconsciously with the shoelace of her high heels. She hadn't moved since Bobby brought it here a few minutes ago and put it down in front of her. He had told her that this box had been found in Pamela's library and that no one had opened it yet since it was addressed to her. Pamela's handwriting was on the side of the box and Kate couldn't help wondering how the woman had gathered a whole box for her and written something on the side of it in a very readable handwriting while being blind.

_**For Kate Anderson (B. Singer**__)_

Written in a black felt-tip marker, Kate was sure that Pamela would have given her some sarcastic answer as to how she wrote this well on the box. Kate let out a light chuckle at the thought of it. She looked up at Bobby who was leaning on his desk, watching her in silence.

"You better open it before the other idjit gets out of his shower," Bobby told her gently, talking about Matt. She licked her lips before pressing them together. She brought her hair behind her ears and leaned closer to the box. She unfolded the top of the box and looked inside. There were books and a few tapes along with two little boxes and a bag. She glanced at Bobby and pulled out a book. She read the title. _Diversis mundis. _She handed it to Bobby and pulled out the other books. _Purgatorium,Paradisus,Infere._

"Purgatory, Paradise and Hell?" Bobby translated the book's hands. She nodded as she handed it to him and looked at the tapes. Dates were written on each of them. "What's that?"

"Pamela used to keep track of whatever she was working on," he replied. "When she got blind, she started recording herself."

"So, you think those records are about me?" She asked, Bobby shrugged.

"Could be."

* * *

><p>Dean walked in the motel room, they had just checked in for the night, followed by his younger brother.<p>

"Ah, home crappy home," he sighed as Sam flipped on the lights.

"Winchester and Winchester," the tall and robust black angel said. Uriel and Castiel were standing in the room, waiting for the brothers to get in here.

"Oh come on," Dean exclaimed.

"You are needed," Uriel said.

"Needed? We just got back from needed," Dean replied.

"Now, you mind your tone with me," Uriel told him as he stared at him with a stern look.

"No, you mind your damn tone with us," Dean shot back at him, anger boiling inside of him to see angels standing here after what had just happened to Pamela because of them.

"We just got back from Pamela's funeral," Sam told them as his eyes flickered from Uriel to the quiet Castiel.

"Pamela. You know, psychic Pamela? You remember her. Cass, you remember her. You burned her eyes out. Remember that? Good times. Yeah, then she died saving one of your precious seals. So maybe you can stop pushing us around like chess pieces for _five fucking minutes!_" Dean shouted as he felt like he couldn't bury his anger deep down anymore. Castiel didn't say anything, though. He remained silent as Uriel spoke.

"We raised you out of hell for our purposes," Uriel told Dean.

"Yeah, what were those again? What exactly did you want from me?" Dean asked as he glared at the angel.

"Start with gratitude," Uriel answered.

"Oh."

"Dean, we know this is difficult to understand," Castiel said, his tone almost compassionate and gentle.

"And _we_," Uriel said as he gave Castiel a very significant look. "Don't care. Now, seven angels have been murdered, all of them from our garrison. The last one was killed tonight."

"Demons? How they doing it?" Dean replied, as confusion wrote on his face and his brother's face.

"We don't know," Uriel replied.

"I'm sorry, but what do you want us to do about it? I mean, a demon with the juice to ice angels has to be out of our league, right?" Sam asked, realizing that none of this was making true sense.

"We can handle the demons, thank you very much," Uriel told him dryly.

"Once we find whoever it is," Castiel added.

"So you need our help hunting a demon?" Dean asked, his eyebrows frowned as he looked at the angel in a trench-coat.

"Not quite," Castiel told him before his eyes looked away. "We have Alastair."

"Great. He should be able to name your trigger man," Dean just said.

"But he won't talk. Alastair's will is very strong. We've arrived at an impasse," Castiel explained.

"Yeah, well, he's like a black belt in torture. I mean, you guys are out of your league," Dean replied, keeping his tone careless and bitterly sarcastic and mocking.

"That's why we've come to his student. You happen to be the most qualified interrogator we've got," Uriel said to Dean as he fixed at the hunter who looked down. Sam glanced at Dean, his brow frowned as he started to understand what was happening here.

"Dean, you are our best hope," Castiel told him.

"No. No way," Dean answered shaking his head.

"Dean, I'm sorry but-" Castiel started when Uriel cut him off.

"I have already told you, Dean. You can be replaced for this job."

"Then, replace me!" Dean shouted.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.<strong>_

"Wait, when I think 'bout it, it reminds me that she recorded something a few nights ago. You know, when you got stuck in your mind and Dean got in there," Bobby said to Kate who nodded at him as she started digging in the box.

"The dates don't match, Bobby," she told him looking up at him. "There are from after the Cleaner incident to before last week…"

"Weird… I'm pretty sure she did one a few nights ago," Bobby replied frowning his eyebrows thoughtfully.

"Wait, she didn't go back home after then," Kate told him as she watched him.

"So, she left it here," Bobby said as she nodded before standing up and circling the coffee table.

"I'm gonna see if she left it upstairs-" Kate started when she suddenly fell to the floor.

"Kate!" Bobby exclaimed as he ran to her sides. She held her stomach hard as she screamed in pain. The old man had no idea what was happening to her. "Kate, what's wrong?! Tell me!" She cried painfully as Bobby's hands were clutching her arms trying to understand what was happening to her.

"Make it stop! Oh my God, please, make it stop!" She screamed as she arched on the floor. Bobby holding her in panic, not knowing what to do.

* * *

><p>"Dean-" Castiel said as his whole face seemed to focus on something afar, with a great concern.<p>

"I don't care anymore!" Dean shouted. "You can't come here after what just happened and except me to execute all you and the old man upstairs want me to do!"

"Dean, you don't under-" Castiel started.

"No, Castiel," Uriel cut him off with a smirk on his face. "He's not motivated to work, so maybe someone else could do the job."

"You'll never find anyone ready to do something like that," Sam interjected.

"Oh you think, boy?" Uriel said, a large smirk on his face. "One of my bosses upstairs has a profound love and respect for something called motivation."

"Uriel," Castiel said as some kind of pain expression appeared on his face. "This needs to stop, she can't bear more-"

"I'm not in charge here, Castiel. If he accepts to follow our orders, it will stop on its own you know that," Uriel replied.

"What are you talkin' about?" Dean almost growled at them.

"You remember that pretty friend of yours? She's screaming in pain right now," Uriel replied to him.

"Kate?" Sam said and Uriel glanced at him with a smirk.

"You're lying," Dean said as he glared at Uriel.

"Am I? Maybe if you could see her," Uriel said before disappearing into thin air. Dean frowned as he turned his head towards Castiel.

"What's happening, Cass? Tell me what's happening?"

* * *

><p>"What's going on?!" Matt shouted as he slid on the floor next to Bobby who was trying to hold Kate from hurting herself as she kicked her legs everywhere, screaming and crying. He was wearing only a pair of pants, not having time to put anything else on as he heard Kate's piecing scream echo in the whole house.<p>

"I don't know! She just fell on the floor and started screaming! We need to call Dean!"

"Why Dean?" Matt asked as he tried to hold down Kate's legs.

"She screamed about Alastair, again!" Bobby replied as Matt frowned, confused. "Give me my phone!" The old man shouted at him.

"You won't need it," a voice said making the two men look up to see a tall black man in a suit standing there, with a little smirk. He flipped his two hands, and Matt and Bobby slid towards opposite walls. Uriel looked down at the woman aching on the floor as she screamed. He frowned. "How is that she looks different?" He said before noticing the precious rock anchored in a bracelet around her wrist. "Huh, interesting." He looked at the two men trying to free from the invisible force holding them against the walls, and snapped his fingers as Kate and himself disappeared.

* * *

><p>"Cass, you gotta tell us," Sam told the angel who looked torn apart.<p>

"This is happening because you are not following the orders," Castiel said, his gaze locked away.

"But, Cass, you can't ask me to torture again… You know, I can't," Dean told him, his tone matching his eyes. Desperately pleading.

"This isn't asking," Uriel said as he appeared in the room and a crying and screaming Kate on the bed too. "But, since you seem to be very stubborn."

"What did you do to her?!" Sam shouted.

"Your brother said to find someone else," Uriel shrugged. Dean stared at Kate and swallowed hard as he closed his eyes.

"Alright," Dean let out. "Stop whatever you're doing to her."

"I'm not doing anything to her," Uriel replied as he glanced at Kate. "This will stop when I'll have you saying _yes_." Dean glared at him as the sounds of Kate's cried were burning his ears.

"Yes," he replied between clenched teeth. The angel smirked.

Suddenly, everybody in the room except Sam.

"Damn it!" Sam shouted looking around himself.

* * *

><p>"Where's Kate?" Dean asked immediately as he appeared in a vast empty room of what seemed to look like a building.<p>

"She's resting over there," Uriel replied as he glanced behind Dean's shoulder. Dean turned around to find Kate asleep on the floor a few feet away from him. He walked quickly over there and knelt down when he reached her. "Kaitlin? Hey, Kaitlin, you hear me?" He asked her as he gently stroked her face.

"Mmh," she mumbled as she moved slightly and opened her eyes. "Dean?"

"Hey, you're okay?" He asked her, his hands on her arms, as she frowned and looked around her.

"Where are we? I was with Bobby when…" She frowned even more as she couldn't remember anything after that. "What happened?" Dean was relieved that she had no memories of what she had just endured.

"Nothing," he said shaking his head as she sat up. "You're feeling okay?"

"Yeah," she replied as her eyes traveled behind him. Her face went a bit hard when her eyes fell on Uriel and Castiel. "What's going on?" He turned his head to look at what she had just seen and sighed as he turned his head back towards her.

"Nothing you need to attend," he told her in a little voice as she looked into his eyes.

"You're okay?" She asked him, seeing the glimpse of a terror in his green eyes.

"I'll be once you're out of here. Come on," he said standing up and helping her stand up too. She looked down at his hands as they let off her forearms and quickly grabbed them in her own hands. He looked at her face, frowning a bit.

"Dean, you're trembling," she looked back and forth at his face and his hands. He swallowed and pulled his hands away.

"We need to get you out of here, now," Dean said as he turned around and stopped when he noticed Uriel just a couple of feet away from them.

"No, she stays here," the angel told him.

"Why? You don't need her. I told you I'm gonna do it," Dean replied almost furious.

"Yes, you did. But you seem to act like a spoiled kid who changes his mind every once in a while. So, I'm sure keeping her around will stop you from switching on and off your motivation," Uriel said as Kate gulped at the word that developed a bitter taste whenever she heard it. The angel glanced at her. "After all, we're all motivated for something here, aren't we?" Uriel smirked.

"You're the motivated one here," Dean told the angel with glare. "And I don't know what you've done to her but I fuckin' swear I will-"

"I didn't do anything to her," Uriel cut him off. "I wouldn't do anything to a human from another dimension. I would be killed by God Himself if I dared to touch one hair of hers."

"Oh yeah? Then what happened two minutes ago?" Dean asked bitterly as Kate frowned not knowing what he was talking about.

"That was not my work," Uriel replied. "But, seeing as something made her feel this way, I just wanted to remind you that she would feel a thousand times worse if you want us to do that replacement." Dean clenched his jaw hard, as he glared at the angel.

"What do you want from Dean?" Kate asked in a little voice as the angel looked at her.

"We need to find out what is killing the angels, lately," Uriel replied as Kate scoffed.

"And? Everybody's dying these days," Kate said to him which surprised the angel who wasn't expecting any kind of come back from her.

"You don't seem to understand-"

"Oh yeah, I do. You're all-powerful. So you think you can make everyone do whatever you want," Kate told him. "What rank of angels are you on to act this all-powerful angel on some and not on me? It mustn't be a very high one, right?" Uriel let out a forced chuckle as he turned his face to see Castiel approaching them.

"This is too much to ask, _I_ know. But we have to ask it," Castiel said as Kate looked at him, wondering what exactly they were asking Dean to do. She watched as Dean stared at Castiel for a moment, then turned back to Uriel.

"I want to talk to Cass alone," Dean announced.

"I think I'll go seek revelation. We might have some further orders," Uriel said.

"Well, get some donuts while you're out," Dean sarcastically told him making the angel cracked out a weird laugh that made Kate feel rather uneasy.

"Ah, this one just won't quit, will he? I think I'm starting to like you, boy," Uriel said before he glanced at Kate. "Milady," he told her before vanishing.

Kate bit on her bottom lip as she glanced at Dean, and started to take a few steps away. He grabbed her wrist swiftly and looked at her questioning.

"I thought you said you wanted to talk to Castiel on your own?" She told him in a little voice and he shook his head.

"Without Uriel, yeah," he told her and she nodded as she stood there. He looked down at her wrist and let go of her as he turned to look at Castiel whose eyes were glued to him. "By the way, you guys don't walk enough. You're gonna get flabby with all that teleportation." Castiel didn't react at all. "You know, I'm starting to think junkless has a better sense of humor than you do."

"Uriel's the funniest angel in the garrison. Ask anyone," Castiel told him and Kate looked at the angel almost hypnotized by the way he was always answering genuinely, without ever noting the sarcasm in whatever was told to him. Dean sighed as he walked up to Castiel, and Kate crossed her arms over her chest and looked around herself.

"What's going on, Cas? Since when does Uriel put a leash on you?" Dean asked the angel as Kate's eyes landed on a door a few feet away. She frowned as she noticed some light leaking from the little space between the door and the floor.

"My superiors have begun to question my sympathies," Castiel replied.

"Your sympathies?" Dean asked, confused.

"I was getting too close to the humans in my charge," the angel replied making Kate turn her attention back at him. "You." He said his gaze never looking away from Dean.

"Is that bad?" Kate asked making the angel look at her as Dean looked away for a moment.

"They feel I've begun to express emotions," he replied to her before he looked at Dean. "The doorways to doubt. This can impair my judgment."

"Well, tell Uriel, or whoever...you do not want me doing this, trust me," Dean declared and Kate frowned her eyebrows.

"Want it, no. But I have been told we need it," the dark-haired angel replied.

"You ask me to open that door and walk through it, you will not like what walks back out," Dean said as Kate glanced at the door.

"For what it's worth, I would give anything not to have you do this," Castiel told Dean, his voice completely sincere.

"What's in there?" She asked in almost a whisper.

"At least, take Kaitlin away," Dean said to Castiel.

"I cannot do that," the angel replied as Dean took a couple of steps away, his back facing them.

"I don't understand, what's in there?" She asked again as Dean closed his eyes.

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><p><span><strong>Author's note :<strong>

**First of all I wanna apologize for all the freaking mistakes I've done in this chapter! With all those finals, I had no time at all to check that chapter correctly and I'm truly sorry for that! Second of all, I hope you enjoyed this very long chapter! To be honnest with you, it was supposed to be even longer but seeing as it has like 23,071 words I decided to cut it here! You'll have the rest this saturday/sunday upmost :)!**

**And now I wanna thank all the dear readers who favorited and followed this story! You guys are awesome, thank you very much! And above all else, thank you so damn much to all those readers who left me a review on the last chapter! I don't know if you have the slightest idea of how happy it made me! :D**

**Scarlet tribe : I hope you enjoyed this update, thanks for reviewing :)**

**Wideawakepastmidnight : Your review gave me facial cramps from smiling too much haha! I'm so happy you liked my adaptation of the Siren episode, and I can't be happier to know that my OC has made it into your list of favourite OC's. Sometimes, I feel like I'm not writting her correctly, and it gets on my nerves because I really want her to fit it as well as possible... And yeah, you got it so right... I'm trying to make her a sort of 'reflection of the boys and their need to fight and defend'! You're jsut so awesome for noticing it ! :D PS: Yep! Girl power all the way ;)! Thanks for reviewing :)**

**mk72 : I'm so happy you love my OC and the way she's dealing with this supernatural world :) I'm so happy you find her relatable because I'm trying my best to keep her as relatable and realistic as possible, and trust me when I tell you it's not that easy to do (especially when I gotta make her fill in a such a world with such well-written characters!) I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you appreciated the few glimpses into Kate's pretty rough past. More to come slowly ;) Thank you for leaving this review, that made my day :)**

**bjq : Happy to know that you think so ! Thanks for the review :)**

**strawberryfieldsroad : That's all I want Kate to be : not something to take care of, but somethign that can take care of. It always saddens me to see the Winchesters going through so much without anyone really taking care of them. Kate is here to be as caring, gentle and attentive as a mother or a lover would be. Her not easy past and the lack of a sweet caring mother made her feel the need to be like that with everyone around her; mostly those who are as lonely and sad as our Wichesters while deserving so much... Thank you for leaving that review :)**

**MadaleineWinchester : I'm so happy to have you hooked on my story ha :)! And thank you for sayign this story has got potential, such a nice and boosting thing to say :)! Thanks for your review!**

**wolfenergy17 : Well, here you go! How did you find that chapter? I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for leaving a review :)**

**Thank you for reading and I truly hope you enjoyed this chapter! I can't wait for you to read the next one where the little feud over Kate and a hunter will get overprotective over Kate because of Matt, will happen ;)!**

**Much love,**

**A.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry for taking almost two weeks to update, but so much happened lately, but anyway, here is your new chapter that I hope you will like! **

**The very sweet 'Igotzapped' took on her free time to read and correct this chapter in order to make it more enjoyable for all of you dear readers. So a big thank you for her because there won't be any mistakes anymore ;)!**

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><p><em><strong>Episode 4x16 'On the Head of a Pin'.<strong>_

"What?" Kate asked, her raspy voice showing the deep shock that went through her when Castiel explained to her the whole situation. She couldn't believe what Dean was asked to do. It sounded impossible, but here they were, a few feet away from the room where Dean would relive one of his hardest times ever. "You can't let him do that, Castiel."

"I don't have a choice in this, Kate," the angel replied as he looked at her with a hard look. "If I could prevent this, I would."

The brunette turned her head to Dean, who was standing next to a loaded cart covered with a cloth; a few feet away from the door she now knew led to where Alastair was held imprisoned. The minute Castiel had begun to tell her what was in that room, Dean had just walked away. It was as though he couldn't stand there, listening to them verbalize what he was going to be doing. It was as though it made it all too real for him. When he had walked to the loaded cart, he had looked as if he was simply going through the motions, like an automaton silently accepting to carry out the task that was given to him. This was something he had been trying to run away from ever since his return from Hell, and Kate was aware of that just as much as everyone else in Dean's entourage. He would never want to torture anyone else after what happened in Hell. He had never told her this explicitly, but he had made it clear on the few conversations they had about it. He couldn't do that again. The young woman couldn't believe that Heaven was ordering Dean to do something that had already broken him so much. Surely Heaven had a lot of painful missions and painful ways to make them completed. And all of this had made the brunette question her faith more than once, ever since she came into this universe. One of the only things that truly kept her going, was the belief that Heaven back in her universe, was on all counts different. And that soon enough, she was going to return to her universe which wasn't as messed up as this one.

"What am even I doing here?" She asked in a whisper, her eyes glued to Dean' strong back as he leaned his hands on the loaded cart and stood there silently.

"You know exactly what you are doing here," Castiel replied in a low voice. "If you want the angels to help you return to your universe, and to save your father from death, you have to do this. You have to encourage Dean to fulfill his destiny." She nodded her head slowly as she bit on her bottom lip.

"I know," she whispered as she stared at Dean's back. As hard as it was, she had to hold onto this hope to get back to her safe universe and to see her father again, alive.

"Cass," Dean said as the angel took his gaze away from Kate and walked towards the dirty-blonde-haired hunter.

Suddenly, Kate felt her heartbeats getting faster and faster in her chest. Then, the voice of that angel she hated so much echoed in her head. _You must compel him. You must make him listen to us. If not, you know what will happen, Kate. Don't let it show, though. Don't._

"I-I can't, Cass…" Dean said to Castiel. Right when those words left Dean's lips, Kate felt a wave of pain go through. An image of Dean's back getting flogged by a lash in fire, flashed in her mind. She let out a sharp breath as she felt every single whip lash of it. When she raised her head, she saw Dean shaking his head, right to left. Castiel glanced at Kate who turned around then, giving her back to them in order to not show them the pain on her face.

"Dean, Alastair is bound completely by a devil's trap made in old Enochian," Castiel told Dean as he threw a glance at Kate. The angel could sense what was silently happening to the young woman just a few feet away from them. And, it pained him not to be able to stop it.

"You really think that's what's slowing me down now, Cass," Dean said to him as the angel frowned his eyebrows.

Kate's hands grasped tightly at her sides as the throbbing pain increased inside of her. She wanted to scream but no sound left her mouth. _Motivation, Kate. Motivation!_

"Okay," she succeeded to let out in a shaky whisper, as she kept her eyes shut tightly. "Stop it, Zachariah… Please, I'm gonna make him do it... Please, stop..."

Abruptly, the pain faded away and Kate breathed out in relief. She opened her eyes and dropped her hands at her sides. She turned around to see Dean and Castiel at the same spot. Her eyes met the angel's blue eyes, and he made a little nod before taking a few steps away. She saw Dean gaze up at him, before lowering his head as he leaned his hands on the cart again. Taking a deep breath, she walked towards the hunter, clenching and unclenching her hands.

"Dean," she whispered softly once she approached him. He looked up at her, and it was as if she was punched right in her guts. His beautiful green eyes held a deep sorrow and desperation, and it hurt her even more to know that she wasn't standing here to make it all go away, but to make him give in.

"I can't do that…" He confessed in a broken voice, the expression on his face making him looking like a little boy afraid of the dark. Kate swallowed as she glanced down at his hands gripped at the cart, she put one of her hands on one of his. She could feel how tightly he was gripping at the cart, the knuckles of his hands showing white as some veins were very visible too. She took a deep breath and forced herself to look at his face.

"Yes… Yes, you can, Dean," she told him and he frowned his eyebrows, not expecting her to say this. "You-" She cut herself and pressed her lips together as she took another deep breath through her nostrils. It was harder than what she thought. Pushing Dean to do something he didn't want to -_couldn't do_- was a terribly hard task; especially with his eyes begging for somebody to get him out of this place. "This is not like Hell, Dean… This-this is for the greater good… This will help solving a case and saving innocents, and that's – that's what you do, isn't it?" She told him not sure that she was doing a good job at sounding convincing at all.

He turned his head and looked down at her soft hand, gently resting on the back of his large hand. He could feel her hand shaking and it confused him a little bit. What she was telling him didn't sound like her neither, which increased the confusion in him. He wondered if it was because she was a woman of faith. He wondered if somehow, within a few minutes, she had thought about the whole situation in a more religious, faithful point of view and realized that if Heaven was asking this, then so should it be done.

"You really want me to go in there and do… _Do those things_?" He asked her as he glanced up at her. Her face seemed to tense a bit, and he noticed it.

"Dean, you have to… You have to do what you're told," she replied in her raspy voice. He pulled his hand away from the cart making her hand drop abruptly. He faced her as his eyes scanned her whole face within two short seconds.

"What makes you say that?" He asked her as his green gaze kept on analyzing her facial features.

"Dean, you don't get it..." She told him as she tried to think of something to say while the fear of getting hit by another wave of flashbacks grew in her. God, was she selfish! "I would never want you to do any of this, believe me… But, if you don't, what will happen then?" She asked him knowing far well that there was a reason for Dean to agree on doing it in first hand. She noticed his jaw clenching slightly as he stared at her.

"Uriel said he would get you remodeled, so you could replace me if I don't do it," he admitted, and she was quite surprised by that revelation, even though she wasn't very sure she understood what he meant by being remodeled. "He told me you'd go through a process that would be worse than my time in Hell," he continued before his gaze turned into a very softer one all of sudden. "And now, I can't stop wondering if they're already doing this to you."

"What?"

"You don't remember but before they got us here, they brought you to the motel room I was in with Sam, and you-you were screaming in pain… Cass made a good work in making you forget it all, that last time we were in your head. And I think he's got something to do with the fact that you don't remember what happened earlier too," he told her before shaking his head. "What if they're actually remodeling you… What if they're remodeling you right now 'cause I'm a fuckin' coward who can't go in that room and do to that bastard what he's done to me for years?!" He shouted, his voice sounding defeated and broken. He let out a sigh and shook his head before continuing in a trembling whisper. "I don't wanna do this… But I can't let you or anyone else to do this."

Kate felt her heart breaking in thousands of pieces. Dean actually thought that whatever was happening to her was his fault. And the worst of it all, was that he was completely ready to do this thing he was so reluctant of, if it meant that no one else would do it at his place. It made her feel even guiltier, and hesitation on insisting with him, rose in her. But, the voice of that freaking angel in her head kept on telling her to keep motivated if she wanted to save her father back in her world. She damned herself for being so self-centered as she prepared herself to do as she was told.

"Dean, if you think that by doing it, it might save me from this remodeling thing," she told him in a little voice as he looked up at her. She swallowed as he looked into her eyes, almost looking straight into her. She tried to hold the eye contact without flinching as she already hated herself when the next words left her lips. "Then, please, Dean... Please, do it."

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><p>Standing a few feet away from the door, next to Castiel, Kate watched as Dean wheeled the loaded cart into the room where Alastair was imprisoned. Her brown gaze met the demon's gaze, before a disgusting smirk appeared on his lips making her look away. Her fingers held tightly at the bracelet around her wrist; the bracelet which she hoped was doing its job well at creating a perception filter around her soul rendering it almost unnoticeable.<p>

Once the door closed, Dean kept on wheeling the cart, as Alastair turned his attention at him and started singing. Dean stopped the cart not far away from the demon who started to move within the chains holding him back against a pentagram star, almost as if he was dancing.

"Heaven, I'm in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak. I seem to find the happiness I seek, when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek..." He kept on singing as the hunter in his brown leather jacket pulled off the cart, revealing an assortment of torture implements. The demon laughed as Dean just kept on ignoring him. "I'm sorry. This is a very serious, very emotional situation for you. I shouldn't laugh, it's just that-I mean, are they serious? They sent you to torture me?"

"You got one chance. One. Tell me who's killing the angels. I want a name," Dean said as he face him.

"You think I'll see all your scary toys and spill my guts?" Alastair replied with a devilish and sick smile on his face.

"Oh, you'll spill your guts, one way or another. I just didn't wanna ruin my shoes," Dean replied.

"Oh, yeah."

"Now answer the question," Dean told him.

"May I ask you something first? What is that pretty face doing here? You're not really the kind to go this public about what you're here for, are you?" Dean clenched his teeth, trying to stay as calm as possible. "Oh, and why does she look so different? Where's that wonderful sparking light coming from her soul? I know it's in there but it's like I can't see it…"

"Answer my question," Dean said to him in a harsher voice.

"Or what? You'll work me over? Oh come on, Dean. I am just confused about what happened to her. But, don't worry, she's still very interesting to me. This feisty, pretty little brunette obviously doesn't belong in this world," Alastair said as Dean just stared at him, trying to look as impassive as possible. He couldn't let on anything about Kate; not even her name. "Oh but I guess, something else is bothering you right now… Oh yeah, I feel like maybe you don't want to work me over. Maybe you're, ah, scared to."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Dean replied with a little smirk.

"Not entirely. You left part of yourself back in the Pit. Let's see if we can get the two of you back together again, shall we?" The demon said as Dean walked over the cart.

"You're gonna be disappointed," he replied.

"You have not disappointed me so far. Come on. You gotta want a little payback for everything I did to you. For all the pokes and prods. Hm?" Alastair tried to provoke Dean who was going through the tools, trying to stay as impassive as possible. "No? Um...how about for all the things I did to your daddy?" Dean's head came up slowly at the mention of his father.

* * *

><p>Kate was leaning next to Castiel, on a long work surface, as she wondered if Dean was doing alright in that room. She was concerned that he might have a break down in there. As much as Dean showed a very hard, rough image of himself, she knew that deep down he was just a lonely boy trying to do his best to make everyone around him, safe and happy. She wondered how much different he would have been if his mother hadn't died when he was a kid. For sure, Sam and he wouldn't have grown up into hunters. And they wouldn't have gone through all that pain and loss. Dean wouldn't have gone to Hell. Why would God even let someone who sacrificed his entire self to make good wherever he went, go through such awful, raw and throbbing pain? Surely, it wasn't the kind of God she grew up believing in and once again she felt shameful to think this way. She felt extremely guilty to doubt her faith again, but she couldn't help it.<p>

Suddenly Alastair's piercing scream pulled her out of her thoughts. She straightened and turned her head to the right. The screams were full of pain, and the young woman tried to keep telling herself that this was a demon getting tortured and not an innocent. However, she couldn't help wondering if his host was still in there, and if he was feeling those tortures too. Somehow, it made her think about Castiel's host, and she couldn't help wondering if an angel possession was that different from a demon possession. After all she had read a lot about demons, she was quite well-versed in demons and everything related. However, when it came to angels she didn't know so much. She knew a few things, but the one thing she kept in mind the most was how to get rid of them. When they were helping Anna finding her grace back, Kate had talked a bit to Ruby who had taught her symbol to draw with blood that apparently send away angels. Later on, Kate had done some little researches on that symbol which gave her confirmation that it could help get rid of them. Seeing as they weren't exactly the nice and caring entities she used to imagine them to be, she had learned it by heart just in case.

"Castiel," she said turning her head to the angel standing at her left. He was looking at the door too, before he lowered his gaze towards her. "You told me you're possessing someone... Is he… Is he still alive in there?"

"You're asking if the soul of Jimmy Novak is still inside of this body?" He asked her and she nodded, noting the name of the human he was possessing in the same time. "Yes, he is."

"So… Does that mean that he sees everything you see? I mean I researched about demoniac possessions and apparently the soul of the human possessed can either witness everything that the demon does, or it can just be kinda asleep inside its own body… Well, except if the demon kills them," she told him as he frowned his eyebrows.

"What is your question exactly?"

"My question is, is that like in '_Being John Malkovish'_ ?" She asked him and he tilted his head slightly. "Does Jimmy Novak see everything you do?"

"No," he told her as he looked away. "He is buried very deep inside, and he is locked in a sort of dream state."

"A dream state?"

"Yes," he replied. "It keeps him busy, and I believe happy. Sometimes, he dreams about fishing with his wife and daughter, other times he dreams about walking in one of Heaven's garden with his grand-parents." Kate watched him attentively when another scream from Alastair echoed making her jump slightly. She looked up at the angel and frowned slightly.

"He doesn't feel any of the tortures you received then?" She asked him in a gentle voice. Castiel stared at her for a long moment before looking away.

"No."

"Why Heaven is doing this, Castiel?" She asked him. "Make Dean torture again? Torture you? Me?"

"I thought you didn't want me to take the memory of what you endured before Dean walked in that room?" He told her, looking at her with a bewildered expression.

"Yeah, I don't you to... I know that if you do, I might just burst in there and stop Dean... Which will just make me go through another flashback… As long as I don't have hallucinations or flashbacks popping whenever they want, I can handle the memory of the one I was hit with when Dean changed his mind," she replied, her arms crossed over her chest as her eyes focused away. She looked up at the angel only to meet his eyes immediately. "But, what I meant is... Why Heaven feels the need to do this to us?"

"Because we are going down the wrong path, and we need to stay on the right one," he replied. She sighed shaking her head slightly.

"Does that sound fair for you? To be tortured so we can stay on the right path or-or do what they want us to?" She asked him, her brown eyes trying to look into his blue eyes but never succeeding as he kept them glued to a wall afar, an intensive thoughtful expression all over his face.

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><p>"Yes, Bobby, I know… Sure, I'll call you once I find out where they are…" Sam hung up as he finished talking to Bobby Singer on the phone. He sighed and made a few steps in the motel room, towards where Ruby was. She put a map on the table and looked up at Sam.<p>

"The old man is worried about his kids?" She asked him as she lighted up a few candles, arranging them around the map.

"Uriel showed up in his house before taking Kate with him and vanishing. And, when I told him everything else, yeah, of course it got him even more worried," he replied as Ruby huffed. "You sure this is gonna work?" He asked motioning to the little setting up she had done.

"Of course, I'm sure. Did you forget I was one of the best witches of the world before I became a demon?" She told him and he swallowed nodding his head. "Alright, let's get started." She started to chant something before she grabbed a lit candle and held it to the corner of the map. Sam watched as the fire spread around the edges of the map. He wasn't liking the way her little trick to locate his brother and Kate was happening. "Relax. The fire is our friend. Besides, the only part of the map we need is the 'where are Dean and Kate?' part," she told him as her black eyes holding a sort of glowing grey in the middle, looked down at the map. "Out."

The flames vanished and Sam was surprised to see that the map was charred to unreadability; only a small circle in the middle was left untouched. He looked up at her as she pointed to that piece of map left.

"There. They're both there. It's a good thing angels aren't concerned with hiding their dirty business. Not used to being spied on. I mean, who'd be stupid enough to try?" She told him as she walked in the room, and leaned against a wall.

"Ruby, it's been weeks. I need it," he told her.

"You don't seem too happy about it," she replied as she looked down.

"You think I wanna do this?" Sam replied as he walked towards a bed, her eyes following him. "This is the last thing I-" He sighed. "But I need to be strong enough." He watched her as she walked towards him, and straddled his lap.

"It's okay. It's okay, Sammy. You can have it," she told him before she kissed him and Sam pulled away, his features looking lost. "What's wrong, Sammy?" She asked in an almost soft voice. Her eyes scanned his whole face as he looked down. "Don't tell me, I'm not the brunette you want here?" He looked at her with an accentuated frown. "Come on, I'm not a credulous fool. I've seen the way you are ever since she landed in your life… The girl really did something to you, Sammy, didn't she?"

"It's not like that…" Sam replied sighing as he looked down. Ruby cupped his chin and made him look up. "I just care about her."

"Is that how we call a crush nowadays?" She asked him with a little smirk. "Look, Sammy, it's okay. A hot chick crashes in your life, she's kind, caring; it's hard not to crush on that," she told him as she pulled a knife from an ankle sheath as she slowly pulled her other hand away from his chin. "To be honest with you, even I, myself, grew a little crush on the girl," she told him before cutting her arm, drawing blood. Sam glanced at it before looking at her face again. "No need to get so worked up about it, a crush always goes away, eventually."

"It's not a crush, she's just a friend of mine," he told her and she rose her eyebrows. "And I care about her." He grabbed her arm and drank the blood straight from the vein as Ruby stroked his hair.

"It's okay, Sam," she told him with a smirk.

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><p>Dean held up Ruby's knife as Alastair followed it with his eyes before letting out a little laugh.<p>

"There's that little pig-poker. I wondered where it went," the demon said as Dean lowered it and dipped a ladle into a bowl of holy water before pouring it all over the blade. "Do you really think this is gonna fix you?" The demon kept saying as Dean tried to not listen to him, as he approached him. "Give you closure? That is sad. That's really sad. Sad, sad." Dean looked at Alastair, his face hard and nearly expressionless. Because right then, Dean couldn't feel human emotions anymore. He was going through the motions, doing what he was told and little by little, he started to feel what he was feeling when he was torturing souls in Hell. Satisfaction. He stabbed the demon as a sizzling sound appeared while the demon grunted in pain. Dean just watched his face as he turned the blade slowly in Alastair's stomach. Dean took contentment at seeing the pain on the face of that demon he was torturing. He couldn't look away as he felt a sick joy and gratification expand in him.

"I carved you into a new animal, Dean. There is no going back," Alastair told him, his eyes looking straight into Dean's.

"Maybe you're right. But now it's my turn to carve," Dean replied as he leaned his face closer to the demon's face, and dung his blade even deeper while turning it into Alastair's stomach.

"No!" Alastair shouted.

* * *

><p>Kate was sitting in a plastic seat, chewing on her bottom lip as her fingers kept playing with the bracelet Bobby had given her. Castiel was leaning on the work surface just two feet away from her, watching her. He had found that watching her without really seeing her soul, quite interesting and mind-busying. His eyes had lingered in her wild brown hair in which he had noticed a few lighter strands, but her fingers had also been very hypnotizing. The way she kept on playing with the bracelet around her wrist, with her creamy white long fingers that ended with rather long nails, was almost too distracting.<p>

All of sudden, the light flickered which made Kate stop playing with her bracelet and look up. Castiel's attention was caught too as he looked up. A bulb exploded which surprised Kate. Her brown eyes looked at Castiel before they moved to over his shoulders. Castiel watched Kate's features before looking down at the work surface. Kate's body lifted up from the seat almost automatically as her brown gaze never looked away from the fallen angel whose presence confused her a little bit.

"Anna," Castiel said as Kate looked at the red-haired angel wearing the exact same clothes than the last time she saw her; the long jacket over her white button-up that was opened past her chest, but still didn't make her look outrageously uncovered somehow, and a pair of jeans.

"Hello, Castiel," she replied before her gaze traveled to Kate. "Kate."

"Hi," Kate just said as Castiel turned his head to glance at the fallen angel who once was one of his superiors.

"Your human body-"

"It was destroyed, I know. But I guess I'm sentimental. Called in some old favors and..." She replied as she walked towards Castiel. Suddenly, a more audible scream of Alastair was heard.

"You shouldn't be here," Castiel told her, still giving her his back.

"I'm sure Kate shouldn't be here, either," Anna said as she glanced at Kate who stayed quiet as she just watched the two angels.

"We still have orders to kill you, Anna," Castiel told her.

"Somehow I don't think you'll try," she replied as she walked past him towards Kate. She glanced down at Kate's wrist. "This is a very clever accessory, even though the beauty of your soul should never be hidden."

"Bobby thought it'd be safer for me," Kate replied. Anna simply nodded, then she walked past Kate, and looked through the door's little window. She could see Dean torturing Alastair through it. "Where's Uriel?"

"He went to receive revelation," Castiel replied.

"Right," Anna just said when another scream echoed from the room Dean and Alastair was. "Why are you letting Dean do this?" She asked as she turned around to look at Castiel who looked away before spinning around.

"He's doing God's work," he replied.

"Torturing? That's God's work?" Anna said to Castiel before turning her gaze to the brunette. "And you just stay here?" She told Kate who looked away, her cheeks burning with shame. Anna obviously cared more about Dean than she did. That angel had spent just a couple of days with Dean and still she cared more about him than she did.

"Stop him, Cass, please," Anna told Castiel. "Before you ruin the one real weapon you have."

This surprised Kate who turned her eyes back to the red head. She looked fixedly at her, her naturally thin brown eyebrows frowned.

"Before he ruins the one real weapon you have?" The fallen angel turned her attention towards Kate who had spoken in a rather strong voice even though her voice was a bit low and raspy from all the crying she had done lately. "So this is why you want Dean to stop torturing? It's not because you care about him? It's because he's a weapon, oh no wait, excuse me. He's the 'o_ne real weapon!_'" Kate exclaimed. "And, you don't want this weapon damaged," the brunette shook her head in disbelief. "Dean is in there, doing things that are hurting him more than the demon who's being inflicted by those things, and all you think about is that he's a weapon who can be ruined?!"

"If you know that, then why are you standing here doing absolutely nothing to help him?" Anna replied, her gaze hard and stern. "Why are you waiting here for him to be done with that instead of going in there and get him out?"

"Because it is the will of God," Castiel said as Kate looked away. The young woman knew how right the fallen angel was. Why was she standing here doing absolutely nothing to help him? She could accuse Anna, but here she was doing the absolute worst. Damn, how hypocritical could she be! "And who are we to question the will of God?"

"Unless this isn't his will," Anna replied as she walked towards Castiel.

"Then where do the orders come from?" He asked as Kate's eyes kept on glancing at the door leading to the room where Dean was torturing Alastair. She could go in there and get him out; that man who had saved her a few days ago from her own mind. That good man who didn't deserve any of that pain... But she was too scared. Too scared to go through what he had been through, too scared to ruin the only chance to prevent her father from dying in her universe...

"I don't know. One of our superiors, maybe, but not him," Anna answered to Castiel who turned around to look at her.

* * *

><p>Dean splashed Alastair in the face with holy water which made the demon gargle as the water steamed and sizzled. Dean looked at him as he jerked within his chains.<p>

"Who's murdering the angels?" Dean asked him as the demon choked in his blood. Suddenly, his eyes traveled over Dean's shoulder. The demon laughed as more blood came out of his mouth.

"What's… What's… your pretty girl's name?" Alastair asked with a smirk as Dean clenched his jaw.

The hunter walked to the holy water and poured out even more of it, before going back to Alastair and splashed in his face again. He watched him sizzle and scream.

* * *

><p>Kate was standing a few feet away from the door. She could see Alastair through the little window. The sight of what was happening inside looked straight from a horror movie. The demon, or rather his 'meat-suit' was taped to a pentagram star, blood dripping on his face and shirt. He was grunting and screaming in pain as his whole body was sort of sizzling. And Dean was facing him, without flinching or moving an inch of his body except to throw water that Kate assumed was holy water, at Alastair's face. It shocked Kate how much ordinary it seemed to be for Dean. And, it saddened her to know that it was her fault if Dean was doing this right now. She turned around when she heard Castiel's voice.<p>

"I am nothing like you. You fell," he told Anna as he made his way towards Kate. "Go."

"Cass," Anna started to say, turning around to face the dark-haired angel standing only a foot away from the brown-head.

"Go," he told her, sternly. Kate watched Anna's face and was surprised to see a very pained and sad expression all over her pale face. The fallen angel nodded her head slowly before she turned her teary eyes towards Kate.

"Do the right choice, don't let anyone choose for you," she told her before vanishing. Kate stared at the empty spot where the fallen angel was just a second ago when another loud scream came from Alastair.

* * *

><p>Alastair spit out blood and holy water, and scrunched his face. Dean watched him, still holding that cup he had been splashing holy water with.<p>

"You're just not getting deep enough," Alastair said making Dean feel even more tired of all of this. He had been giving Alastair some of the best tortures this very demon had taught him in Hell, and still he was here making snarky and smart comments. The hunter walked to the cart. "Well, you lack the resources. Reality is just, I don't know, too concrete up here. I can't help thinking about how much fun it would be to do all of this back downstairs," he told Dean who put down the cup. "With her… It would be so much fun," he said as Dean looked up at him to see the demon's gaze looking across of him. Dean followed his gaze to see, he was staring at Kate through the little window.

* * *

><p>"Castiel," Kate started as she looked up at the angel. "Maybe Anna was right… Maybe it wasn't God's will."<p>

"You should not doubt," Castiel told her as he looked away.

"Yeah, I know. But I'm not the one doubting here, am I?" She replied and he looked down at her when suddenly the door behind them opened. They both turned around when they heard the door slam followed by loud footsteps. Dean walked towards the work surface, his dark-blue shirt was covered with a few drops of blood, but his hands and his forearms were bloodier. Kate swallowed as she fixed at his strong hands that were so clean before he got in the room.

"Dean," Castiel started but Dean interrupted him as he shook his head, giving his back to them.

"No, Cass. It's enough… He won't give in," he said. "There's nothing I can do, he won't crack." Right then, Kate felt as if nails were hammered on her back. She bit on her bottom lip forcefully as she heard Dean's voice scream in pain in her head before a flashback of his crossed her mind again. She let off her bottom lip and took a deep breath as once again no sound left her lips. _You can't let him back off, Kate!_ Zachariah's voice echoed in her head. Castiel glanced at Kate, understanding far well what was happening to her at this exact instant as she shut her fists tightly, and tears formed in her eyes.

"Dean," she breathed out. The aching pain faded away, as she walked towards the hunter. He glanced up at her before turning around completely. His face looked hard and emotionless, and Kate felt guilty for him to be like that. She realized that he was destroyed now, utterly destroyed and it was all her fault. She had done this to him. There wasn't even this little boy expression on his face. She had completely destroyed every single advancement he's done with lots of efforts to move on from Hell, to forgive himself. She had destroyed all of this. She had destroyed this man completely.

All of sudden, she realized something as she looked at him. If she was to be protected like so many had claimed... If she was to be protected, then why Zachariah could make her go through all of those things? God had to be much more powerful than that angel, thus she could ask him to protect her from another wave of torture; something she was certain was going to hit her in a couple of seconds for what she was planning to do. But, she didn't care because she had to do what was right. She took a deep breath and clenched her jaw. It was time to be strong. _"You're not alone, Kaitlin." _Dean had told with a gentle gaze back when they were reliving the memory of her father's death. _"I'm not telling you, you should forget your father. Not at all. All you gotta do is accept his death and live your life in such way he'd be proud of you."_ Pamela had told her a month ago. _"Wherever your old man is now, he must be proud of you."_ Rufus had told her once after she had told him he had passed away months ago. _"You're not alone, Kaitlin"_ …. "_Do the right choice, don't let anyone choose for you_."

It was time to accept what she has been refusing for months now. It was time to be strong and to do what she wanted and what she believed was the rightest thing to do.

"You can stop, Dean," she told him, and right then a wave of pain appeared in her. She fisted her hands, tightly and forcefully. She could bear it. She's been used of those tortures for quite some time now. She had to be strong. She could do it.

"I can't do that," Dean replied as he shook his head, still looking down at the table.

"You can, Dean…" She told him as she held back a terrible scream threatening to tear her throat apart just to get out. Her fingernails were digging into her palms, cutting through the skin there. The pain of the flashback going through her was one of the worst she had ever felt. But, Kate kept praying God to help her in her heart, as she tried to show a normal face to Dean who looked up to her. Trying very hard to stay impassive at the amount of pain that was going through her, was very hard but she was determined to do it.

"If I don't do it, they'll make you do it, Kaitlin," he told her as he looked into her eyes. He frowned when he noticed the tears forming in there. "I already told you, I can't let that happen," he told her gently as he reached his hand up to touch her cheek, but he stopped when he noticed the state of his hand. It was covered in Alastair's blood. He gave her a weak smile, lowered his hand and turned around, walking to the door. He grabbed the doorknob and turned around. "Thanks anyways." He told her before he walked into the room and shut the door behind him.

She stared at the door as the pain kept going through her. She wanted to stop Dean, but she knew that if she opened her mouth, a piercing scream would escape. She glanced at Castiel who was staring at her with an alarmed expression. She turned around and started to make two steps before she felt her legs giving in. She put her bloody hands on the work surface, biting so hard on her lips that she made it bleed. She tried to hold onto the work surface to walk away, but the blood in her palms made her hands slide over the smooth surface. Castiel walked towards her, his hands reaching her. She let out a little yelp, trying not to scream.

"I-I don't want him… To hear me..." She managed to say and Castiel nodded, put his hand on her shoulder and made them both teleport to some other room.

"We're just five minutes away from the room where Dean and Alastair are," he told her as they were now in a rather little empty room. "It's a soundproof room in the same building."

Right when he told her this, Kate who was on her knees, let out a piercing scream coming from deep inside of her. Castiel stared at her, his face holding some sincere pain of not being able to do anything to help her.

"Kate, Kate, Kate. How deceiving you just became."

Castiel stood up and looked at the angel standing in front of him.

"Zachariah-"

"Castiel, be a good angel and go keep an eye on Dean," he said as Castiel looked down at Kate who was gripping at her hair, crying and screaming in pain. "Now." Castiel looked up at Zachariah who snapped his fingers making him vanish. He crouched in front of Kate and sighed as he snapped his fingers again and all the pain washed away from Kate. She kept her face lowered down, giving her back to the angel as she panted. She heard him sigh, when an idea crossed her mind. "You have been very selfish, Kate. I never thought you would do something so deceiving and so selfish..." The angel sighed as she kept moving her hand on the floor, her hair hanging around her face and hands like a curtain. "Did you ever once think about your father?" She raised her head, licked lips, tasting the metallic flavor of her blood. Then, she turned her face to glare at the angel.

"He's dead," she told him between clenched teeth. "Pamela's dead. Dean and Sam's parents are dead. Bobby's wife is dead. And my father. Is. Dead." Zachariah frowned as he stared at her. "So you and your fuckin' motivation can back the hell off."

"How dare you talk to me like that?" Zachariah asked her as he stood up and looked down at her with a glare full of anger.

"Just like I dare sending you away," she replied making him frown in confusion. He glanced at the floor, his eyes widening when she slapped her hand on a drawing made with her own blood on the floor.

She closed her eyes as a white light appeared and Zachariah screamed a little bit before disappearing. She opened her eyes and looked around. He really was sent away.

"Thanks Ruby," She breathed out. She realized that no pain was going through her and she wondered if it meant that Zachariah had been sent so far away that he had forgotten sending her another wave of pain and flashbacks. Anyways, she didn't mind not having any. She put her hands on the floor to stand up and groaned as she pushed on her injured palms. But still, the brunette stood up. She looked down at her hands and winced, before looking up at the door, as determination to get Dean out of here rose in her.

* * *

><p>"You're back, Dean. I was afraid you were gonna forget me and spend some quality time with that pretty lady," Alastair said as Dean walked to the cart, ignoring him completely. "I wonder if she knows how bad it was what you did for us, back there. But then again, I suppose you have no idea yourself, huh?" He said as Dean kept pouring salt into a container. "You have no idea how bad it really was, and what you really did for us."<p>

"Shut up," Dean whispered to him.

"The whole bloody thing, Dean," Alastair said as Dean walked towards him, his face hard, trying to show not an inch of emotion. "The reason Lilith wanted you there in the first place."

"Well, then I'll just make you shut up," Dean told him as he grabbed forcefully Alastair's chin.

"Lilith really-" Alastair started when Dean poured salt into his mouth. The demon tried to scream through it as Dean held the demon's chin tighter, his eyes hard and satisfied. Once Dean had finished pouring salt, Alastair started to spit out big amount of blood, coughing as he tried to breathe. "Something caught in my throat... I think it's my throat."

"Well, strap in, 'cause I'm just starting to have fun," Dean replied with a smirk, turning around to go back to the cart.

"You know, it was supposed to be your father," Alastair said as Dean poured out holy water his gaze focused on what he was doing. "He was supposed to bring it on. But, in the end, it was you."

"Bring what on?" Dean asked, his eyes never looking away from what he was preparing to torture Alastair with. He poured some holy water on the blade of Ruby's knife as Alastair replied.

"Oh, every night, the same offer, remember? Same as your father." Dean shook salt over both sides of the blade. "And finally you said, 'sign me up'. Oh, the first time you picked up my razor, the first time you sliced into that weeping bitch..." Alastair said as Dean looked up slightly. The flashback of a brown-head in a long white dress, her fingers unbuttoning it, crossed his mind. Then he saw his own hands carving into the skin of that girl with that razor. All of sudden, it was Kate's face that he saw. He swallowed and shook the thought away. He turned to face the demon who smiled at him. "That was the first seal."

Dean just stared at him, showing an impassive face while inside he couldn't help wondering if it was really true. If the first seal really was that. He walked closer and looked right into the demon's eyes, a little smile on his lips as he spoke.

"You're lying."

"And it is written that the first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in hell. As he breaks, so shall it break," Alastair told Dean, leaning a little bit forward as he kept his eyes locked with Dean's. Dean turned away, walking a few steps away as Alastair watched him. Dean couldn't believe what had just been told to him. It couldn't be true. "We had to break the first seal before any others. Only way to get the dominoes to fall, right? Topple the one at the front of the line." Dean's face was full of shock as he started to realize that it was certainly true. He stood still as he let the demon's words sunk into him, painfully. His eyes were glued to the floor ahead of him, trying to keep himself as calm and collected as possible. "When we win, when we bring on the apocalypse and burn this earth down, we'll owe it all to you, Dean Winchester."

Dean closed his eyes, trying his hardest not to react. He could feel his chin shaking as tears were rising in his eyes but he clenched his jaw and took a deep breath through his nostrils. He had to conceal it all.

"Believe me, son, I wouldn't lie about this. It's kind of a religious sort of thing with me," Alastair said as he noticed the dripping faucet and the broken edge of the devil's trap. He smirked.

"No. I don't think you are lying. But even if the demons do win...," Dean said, still giving his back to the demon as he looked at Ruby's knife in his hands. He tried to sound hard and strong. "You won't be there to see it." Dean turned around and was surprised to find Alastair standing right behind him, out of the chains and of the devil's trap.

"You should talk to your plumber about the pipes," Alastair told him with a devilish smirk before punching Dean who immediately went down. The demon grinned.

* * *

><p>Walking down the stairs, Kate kept on praying God to not let Zachariah hit her with a wave of pain or flashbacks again. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to handle it another time, besides she was sure that Zachariah would make it worse than ever. She realized that banishing him away was one stupid and reckless thing to do. But, in the same time she didn't regret it. She had realized that she couldn't let this angel decide for her. She couldn't let him control her like a freaking puppet. Besides, she understood something now. What if all of this really wasn't God's will? What if Zachariah was saying it was God's will to make her obey him? She had to be protected, right? That's what every angel except Zachariah had said. God wouldn't let them do any harm to her, right?<p>

Her father had once told her that if she asked God's help, He would answer to her. Maybe not immediately, maybe not in the way she really wished for. But, He would still hear her and help her. So, all she had to do was to pray for God to keep her away from that torment Zachariah was inflicted her. Now that she had accepted her father's death, no one would use him as an excuse to make her do things she didn't want to.

"No more of this freaking sick motivation… Fucked up world and its fucked up angels," she said to herself as she reached the end of the staircase. She looked right and left wondering where to go when she heard some noise coming from her left. She walked towards it, determined to get Dean out of that awful situation she put him in.

* * *

><p>Alastair held Dean by his shirt collar as he punched him repeatedly. Dean's face was covered in blood. The hunter was feeling dizzy as Alastair dropped him. He sighed, a grin on his face as he picked Dean by the throat and shoved him up against the hexacle, lifting his feet off the floor.<p>

"You got a lot to learn, boy. So I'll see you back in class bright and early Monday morning," Alastair told him when suddenly he noticed Dean's eyes looking at something over his shoulder. He turned around to find Kate holding a container with holy water. She splashed it to his face which made the demon scream as he dropped Dean, putting his hands over his face. Kate took a step back as he pulled his hand away. "Oh you naughty, naughty girl," he told her as he walked towards her. She started to chant the exorcism and he backhanded her, forcefully throwing her away. "You never shut up, do you?"

Right then, Castiel appeared behind the demon who spun around to see him. Castiel stabbed him in the heart; a spark of gold light appeared in the injury.

"Well, almost... Looks like God is on my side today," Alastair said as he looked down at the knife in him. Kate turned her attention to Dean, laying still, his eyes barely opened. She crawled towards him, which Alastair noticed. He kicked her on her lower ribs. "Can't you wait a little bit longer?" He told her as she grunted. He kicked her again, still hitting her lower ribs. He stopped, turned his head towards Castiel as the knife twisted itself in his chest because of Castiel's telekinesis ability. The demon grunted in pain and pulled it out before tossing it away. He made his way towards Castiel and started to fight with him.

Kate crawled towards Dean as the demon and the angel kept fighting.

"Dean," she whispered, reaching his cheek with her hand. He looked up at her before his eyes closed. "Dean!" She exclaimed in a whisper, her hand holding one of his cheek. "Please, no… Oh my God, Dean, I'm so sorry… It's my fault… I shouldn't have… Dean, please wake up." She told him as tears formed in her eyes. She tried to find his pulse in his neck, but her shaky hand made it impossible for her to concentrate. She looked at him, blood and bruises covering most of his beautiful freckled face. "I'm so sorry…" She whispered as she put her shaky hand in front of his nose. She watched his motionless face, and sighed in relief when she felt a slight breath leave his nostrils to reach her bloody palm. She closed her eyes and rested her hand gently on his shoulder.

"Omnipotentis Dei potestatem invoco," Kate heard Alastair chanting. She turned her face around to see him holding Castiel by his throat against a wall. "Omnipotentis Dei potestatem invoco. Aborro te ut…" Kate realized the demon was chanting a banishing spell to Castiel. Noticing blue light appearing in Castiel's eyes and mouth, Kate started to chant the demon exorcism, but her voice was so low that she realized it wasn't even reaching the demon's ears. "Angelum omnium obsequendum, domine expuet! Domine expuet!" The demon kept chanting as Kate tried to chant the demon exorcism louder. He abruptly stopped and started to choke which surprised Kate who stopped chanting too.

Kate turned her head to notice Sam standing there, one hand raised as Alastair was slammed against the wall. She watched him as he was fixing at the demon, his hand opened as his palm faced the demon. His face looked hard and determined, while his whole body seemed hard as well, but also very straightened up, as if all of his muscles were tensed.

"Stupid pet tricks," Alastair said as Kate glanced at Castiel who was now on the floor, his eyes looking at Sam in an almost shocked way. Kate turned to look at Sam. She had been told that there was a time he had some kind of psychic power, and she had understood along her journey in this universe that not only was Dean not very fond of it, but that the origin of that psychic power was sort of evil. However, she didn't know exactly why. All she knew was that she thought he didn't have it anymore.

"Who's murdering the angels? How are they doing it?" Sam asked as she glanced at Castiel again. His expression was one of shock and fear. It was then that Kate realized how very bad the fact that Sam could do that psychic thing, was.

"You think I'm gonna tell you?" Alastair replied.

"Yeah, I do," Sam replied before he twisted his hand. Kate glanced at Dean by her side, before turning her attention back to Alastair to see his eyes were white now, as he choked. "How are the demons killing angels?" Sam asked in an almost shout. Kate turned her head towards him, and stared at him. He didn't look like the sweet Sam she had learned to know those past couple of months.

"I don't know!"

"Right," Sam replied as he curled his fingers and fisted his hand. His eyes never looked away from the demon aching in pain against the wall.

"It's not us. We're not doing it!"

"I don't believe you," Sam replied, as Kate's eyes lowered to his neck, noticing sweat forming there as a few of his veins got visible too. His neck muscles were straining against the force.

"Lilith is not behind this. She wouldn't kill seven angels. Oh, she'd kill a hundred, a thousand," Alastair replied smirking. Sam lowered his hand, his eyes still looking at the demon. "Oh, go ahead…" Kate turned her head to the demon, her eyebrows frowned. "Send me back, if you can."

"I'm stronger than that now," Sam replied making Kate turn her brown head towards Castiel who looked shocked as he turned his head to Sam. She turned her attention to Sam too. "Now I can kill."

The younger Winchester held out his hand, closed his eyes as he concentrated. Alastair grunted more and more, making Kate look back and forth between the two. When the demon screamed, she turned her head to him and saw gold light flare inside of him making him scream even more. She frowned her eyebrows, not believing what she was witnessing. Once again, she turned her head back towards Sam and watched him. He opened his eyes and stared at the demon with an almost soft satisfied expression on his face. She heard Alastair drop on the floor, but she couldn't take her eyes away from Sam. He was breathing deeply as sweat drops formed on his forehead. He looked at Castiel who was staring at him with still a shocked face, before he turned his head and met Kate's brown eyes. He swallowed as he took on her shocked and confused face.

* * *

><p>Kate nodded as the nurse kept on rambling over how she was supposed to take care of her bruised rib on the three next weeks. Sam had given the hospital a fake excuse of a car accident, and Kate couldn't help but wonder how they could have believed that lie after taking care of Dean and after seeing the cuts inside her palms which were obviously done by her own fingernails. None of their injuries looked like ones from a car accident. However, Kate didn't care about that. All she wanted to do ever since she arrived in this hospital was to go to Dean. She wanted to make sure he was going to make it through alright. The guilt hadn't stopped eating her from the inside ever since she had told the hunter to go in that room and do what he was told to.<p>

"Any other questions?" The nurse asked making Kate frown.

"What?"

"Do you have any other questions?" The rather old nurse repeated eyeing Kate up and down.

"No," Kate exclaimed as she rose her eyebrows. "Not at all," she told her as the woman handed her a paper and a plastic bag. Kate glanced down.

"All you'll need for the upcoming weeks," the nurse told her with a kind smile.

"Thank you," Kate told her and the nurse nodded and stood up to leave the little room in which Kate had been examined by the nurse and an intern earlier.

"If you want to see your friend, he's in the room 204. You go down the corridor and turn left," the nurse told Kate who gave her a slow nod before walking out of the room before the nurse.

"Can I make a call first?"

* * *

><p>Standing on his own, in the empty snowy street in front of a building, Castiel looked up at the dark sky of past midnight.<p>

"Anna. Anna, please." The streetlight above him flickered. He looked up at it, then turned around to find the fallen angel staring at him.

"Decided to kill me after all?" She asked him as she stood a few feet away from him.

"I'm alone."

"What do you want from me, Castiel?" She asked him, almost suspicious.

"I'm considering disobedience," he admitted to her. Their eyes were locked as she gave him a slow nod.

"Good."

"No, it isn't. For the first time, I feel..." He said before looking away, not knowing how to name what he was feeling.

"It gets worse. Choosing your own course of action is confusing, terrifying," she told him, as she approached him. She put her hand softly on his shoulder making him look at it. She dropped her hand away. "That's right. You're too good for my help. I'm just trash. A walking blasphemy." She turned to walk away.

"Anna," he said stopping her. "I don't know what to do. Please tell me what to do." She spun around and looked at him.

"Like the old days? No. I'm sorry. It's time to think for yourself. Kate did it, didn't she?"

"And it almost killed her," he told her.

"Do you have any idea why our superiors want to control her?" She asked Castiel whose face showed that the answer was no. "There are so many things you don't know about, Castiel… But think about it. A soul and a body coming from a whole different universe. Her entire self is strong and powerful. Can you imagine how useful she could be to Heaven?"

"They want to use her as a weapon?" Castiel asked, his brow furrowed.

"Not any weapon," she replied as she looked away. "But, there's nothing we can do."

"Anna, what about me? What am I supposed to do? Please tell me what to do," the dark-haired angel begged her. She looked at him, shaking her head softly.

"I'm sorry, Castiel," she replied before vanishing.

* * *

><p><em><strong>The next day. Afternoon.<strong>_

_**Dean Winchester's hospital room.**_

"Are you alright?" Castiel asked as Dean had just opened his eyes a few minutes ago, to find himself in a hospital bed. His whole body ached with pain, but his throat was the worst. He had already woken up early that morning to find his brother sitting at his bedside. He had asked him what happened with Alastair and Sam had told him simply that he had gotten rid of him. When Dean had asked about Kate, Sam had told him he hadn't seen her at all. All he knew was that the nurses said she came to check out how Dean was doing the night before and then she had left. She had apparently made a call before leaving. But before Dean got too much worried, Sam had reassured him that she was at Bobby's.

"No thanks to you," Dean replied in a low raspy voice as he turned his gaze away.

"You need to be more careful."

"You need to learn how to manage a damn devil's trap," Dean shot back at him in a very weak voice.

"That's not what I mean," Castiel replied as he looked at him. "Uriel is dead."

"Was it the demons?" Dean asked him as he looked at him from the corner of his eyes.

"It was disobedience," the angel replied. "He was working against us."

"Is it true?" Dean asked as the angel turned his head towards the hunter. "Did I break the first seal? Did I start all this?"

"Yes," he reluctantly replied, making Dean look away. He didn't want to hear that. He wanted the angel to tell him that Alastair had lied. He wanted to be told that he had nothing to blame himself for. "When we discovered Lilith's plan for you, we laid siege to Hell and we fought our way to get to you before you-"

"Jump-started the apocalypse," Dean interrupted him in an even more broken voice as he looked at the wall across from him.

"And we were too late."

"Why didn't you just leave me there, then?"

"It's not blame that falls on you, Dean, it's fate," Castiel told him looking away. "The righteous man who begins it is the only one who can finish it," he turned his face towards Dean and looked right into the man's eyes. "You have to stop it."

"Lucifer?" Dean asked in a weak whisper. "The apocalypse? What does that mean? Hey! Don't you go disappearing on me, you son of a bitch. What does that mean?" Dean asked a bit louder as the angel turned to look at him.

"I don't know," he simply said.

"Bull!" Dean exclaimed.

"I don't," the angel replied as he turned his head towards him. "Dean, they don't tell me much. I know our fate rests with you."

"Well, then you guys are screwed," Dean whispered as tears formed in his eyes. His raspy voice sounded even more broken as he sobbed. He turned his head and looked away. "I guess I'm not the man either of our dads wanted me to be. Find someone else. It's not me… Maybe it's Kaitlin… Maybe that's why she's here. Maybe she's stronger than me…"

"No, Dean I don't think so-" Castiel started.

"Then find someone else, because I can't… I can't do it, Cass. It's too big. Alastair was right. I'm not all here. I'm not-I'm not strong enough… Find someone else…" Dean cried in silence on his bed, as Castiel stared at him.

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><p><strong><span>Author's note :<span>**

**I truly hope you enjoyed this chapter :)! I gotta say I had some technical problems with my laptop which made me lose a lot of things; and surprise surprise! A fold with a lot of chapters of this story is gone too. I'm currently trying to rewrite everything, but my muse is kinda in vacations lately... So yeah, I'm doing my best lately. I've managed to rewrite the two final chapters of this story. But I've got a few other chapters in between to re-write still, and I'm having such a hard time with them... Anyways, if everything goes alright and if my muse comes back tomorrow, this story will be done by early january. So yes, that also means there'll be more updates per week. I'll try to work with 'Igotzapped' on chapters that I can't correct by myself, but yeah you'll have chapters corrected by her and chapters corrected by myself so that I can wrap up this story in early january. You might wonder why I'm kinda in a rush to wrap it. Well, the thing is that next semester I will have a lot of work, and I'm afraid it might make you wait for the end of that story, which I really don't want to.**

**Next chapter will be inspired by the episode _It's a Terrible Life_ (4x17). I'm almost done writting it right now, but Gosh how hard it is to grasp the characters of Sam and Dean in this episode! I mean they're just so out of character that I almost skipped on writting my chapter like four times, because I just felt like writing something else than Supernatural and gah! Well, I gotta be honest, I have three different versions of that chapter by now... I am wondering what you would like to see happen in my retake of this episode. Depending on your reviews, I will post the one that will get as many people satisfied as possible. So yeah if you'd like to see some action between some characters or something else happen, just say it and your wish may just come true ;).**

**By the way, thank you very much for making me smile with your reviews on last chapter, you guys are the best !**

**Love,**

**A.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you very much 'Igotzapped' for beta-reading this chapter in spite of your illness. Hope you'll get better soon **

'**Bonne lecture' everybody !**

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><p><em><strong>Five days later.<strong>_

_**Abandoned building on the road in between Canyon Ferry Lake and Helena, Montana.**_

_**Late night.**_

_Bang!_

"Oh my God, I did it. Matt, I did it!" Kate shouted excitedly as she held his gun up, turning around and looking at him with a huge grin on her face. It was the first time she managed to shoot well and to hit her target, so she was more than enthusiastic to have finally done it.

All of sudden, she was tackled to the ground. She groaned and tried to fight back the brown-haired man she had just shot a silver bullet right in the heart. He was straddling her now, his strong hands trying to hold her down as she kept on budging under him, trying to push him away. When he brought his head down, she hit him with her own head. He cringed, his hands gripping her forearms forcefully, holding them down. He opened his mouth wide, and rows of sharp teeth appeared up and down. They looked like shark teeth, so sharp and numerous. Her eyes widened at the view as she realized this creature wasn't a shape-shifter like Matt had said. He backed away a bit before leaning his head, ready to bite her.

Suddenly, the creature's face expressed shock before its entire head dropped next to hers, rolling a bit away. Some blood splashed on her face, down to her mid-chest. She could feel warm blood drops on her face but didn't react as she noticed the headless body starting to fall forward on her. It was caught in time from behind, and Kate saw Matt pulling the body away from her before throwing it on the side. She looked up at him before looking at her right where the motionless and bloody head was. She winced and stood up in a swift movement, eager to get away from that cut off head.

"Vampires," Matt just said as he stared at the body on the floor, a sharp machete in one hand.

"You said shape-shifter!" Kate shot at him as she slapped his arm, her brown eyes looking up at his face.

"I was wrong," he replied in a serious low tone, his gaze still focused on the body. A deep expression was painted all over his face as his blue eyes held something indescribable. She frowned her eyebrows as she scanned his face.

"Are you okay?" She asked him in a soft voice. He didn't say anything before he turned his attention back at her.

"Well done with the shooting," he told her as she nodded and handed him back his gun. He took it, put it in his jeans back pocket, his eyes glancing at the dead creature. Kate touched her face with her fingertips, then brought her hand down to look at the vampire's blood covering her fingertips. She grimaced.

"You got some tissue?" She asked, looking up at him. His eyes traveled her whole face. Under the blood drops all over her face, he could see the almost paleness of her skin. Dark shadows were drawn under her brown eyes, and even though her eyes were wide open, he knew that the only thing keeping her awake was the adrenaline.

Ever since that day when she had called him on the phone to pick her up at that hospital, she had been acting very strange. She hadn't told him much, but once they were at Bobby's, he had caught her crying three times. The minute Bobby had announced the arrival of the Winchester brothers, so that the elder brother could rest up there for a few days, she had suggested staying with Rufus. Bobby had been quite surprised, wondering why she wouldn't wanna stay around. However, after a little conversation with her, the old man had agreed for her to go away with Matt for a few days. Matt had been very confused and concerned about what was happening exactly. He was curious about what had happened when she had been taken away by that big black guy, but he hadn't asked her anything seeing that she really didn't want to talk about it. The only problem now, was that when he wanted to drop her off with Rufus, she had insisted on following him to his hunt instead. The young hunter had been convinced quickly thinking it would be a rather good training for her. Nonetheless, he had started to get even more worried when he realized she had been keeping herself awake ever since he picked her up from that hospital. He had tried asking her why she wouldn't sleep, but she always managed to change the subject.

"You'll wash later," he told her as he walked to a wall where an emergency axe was. He took it off the wall and walked back towards her while she was wiping her face with the hem of her shirt. "We still got at least another vampire to take care of."

"What?" She asked him as she pulled her shirt down and looked up at him.

"I don't think there's a nest here, but I'm pretty sure, this vampire wasn't here on his own. They don't like being alone," he told her as he handed her the axe.

"Who does," she whispered as she took the axe. He studied her face and pondered with himself, before finally concluding that maybe she shouldn't be there with him. He reached for the axe, confusing her.

"If you'd rather, I can send you back to the motel so you can get some shut-eye-"

"I'm fine, Matt," she cut him off as she pulled the axe towards her. His eyes traveled from her shaky hands gripping at the handle of the axe, to her face that looked almost ill. She was obviously exhausted. He sighed and spun around, walking towards the staircases.

"After we're finished here, what do you say we go back to your uncle's and get some rest?"

"No," she replied shaking her head as he glanced down at her. She really didn't want to go there as long as Sam and Dean were there. This was starting to make him wonder a lot about those boys and what happened back then. "So, you go up and I go down?" She asked trying to change the subject. He shook his head.

"I want you with me," he told her and she sighed, rolling her eyes. "If anything happens to you, your uncle will make sure I don't see daylight anymore."

"Alright, then basement first," she said as she started to walk towards the stairs. He stopped her by grabbing her forearm. "What?"

"I need to grab something in my car, first," he told her as he nodded his head to one of the doors.

"You're serious?" She asked him. "What if they escape while we go to your car?"

"I think that if there was a vampire alive in this building right now, it would have already attacked us by now," he told her, letting go of her arm. "Come on."

Once they reached his car, Matt glanced at Kate who couldn't stand still. He opened one of the backseat doors of his car, put the machete up on the roof and turned around to look at the brunette with one sided braid as she was rubbing her eyelids. He leaned one arm over the door, as he watched her. She put her hand away and met his gaze.

"What?"

"Why don't you sleep?" He asked her, making her sigh out of annoyance as she turned around to walk away. "Wait, no, no." He told her as he made quick long steps and was now facing her. He looked down into her eyes, and gently put his hands on her shoulders as she kept her gaze away. "Look, I got it. Something happened back there, with the Winchesters. And you can't find sleep. But you're obviously dead tired, Kate. It's been days, you can't keep on going on like that. Trust me, I've tried this once and at the end I almost got myself killed." She looked at him. "What's keeping you awake, Kate? Because you're obviously not possessed by a demon or anything."

"You'd have to do the tests, to make sure of that," she replied sarcastically.

"I did," he replied making her raise her eyebrows. "Made you drink holy water a couple of days ago." She stared at him in disbelief. "I did other tests so I'm pretty sure you're still human."

"Good to know," she only replied. He scanned her face and she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Look, Matt. I'm fine. I just don't wanna fall asleep and dream… That's all."

"Afraid of nightmares?" He asked her and she looked at him with an expression that told him he had touched the right button. "Alright, then I'm sorry, but you really need to sleep."

"What are you sorry for?" She asked him, confused as she felt his fingers slowly go up to the back of her neck.

"For what I'm about to do," he replied gently as he gave her a little smile. Suddenly he put some pressure on the back of her neck with his fingers, and she immediately passed out, the axe in her hand dropping on the ground. His hand held the back of her neck as his free arm wrapped around her waist. He managed to carry her to the backseat and laid her down there. "You had to rest one way or another," he said more to himself than to her as he closed the door. He bent down, grabbed the axe and then took his machete. He put them in his hood before walking to the driver seat. He started the car, glancing at the brunette through the rearview mirror. "Alright, I drop you off at the motel, and I come back here to take care of what's left."

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><p><em><strong>3 days later.<strong>_

_**Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.**_

"Hey, it's me again… Sam. Well, Bobby told me you called him and that you took care of a ghost on your own last night, and also that you took care of a couple of vampires a few days ago… That's awesome, congrats," the young man said, holding his cell phone against his ear as he was sitting behind the wheel of the Impala. A weak smile was playing on his lips before it vanished as he glanced outside. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I just wanted to check on you… Again. Hum, it's been a while and you haven't been at Bobby's for over a week now, and we're all kinda worried about you. If you could, um, call me later maybe? We could catch up, you know. Alright, um say hi to Matt and, um talk to you soon, okay? Bye." He hung up and sighed as he looked down at the phone in his hand.

The young Winchester couldn't help wondering if he had frightened her. Ever since she had seen him killing Alastair with his telekinesis power, she's been away from them and she's been avoiding talking to him and to his brother. She had gone as far as leaving Bobby's house before their arrival. He was starting to worry more and more, and the fact that she wasn't answering any of his calls or texts, only increased his concerns. The only way they got news from her was through Bobby who talked to her on the phone every two days. He had wanted to ask his brother to call her, but his brother had been acting a bit strange lately too.

All Dean ever did was lock himself in one of the rooms upstairs and listen to music while slowly getting better. Sam had tried to tell him about an interesting case that might be a seal, but Dean hadn't wanted to hear anything about it. He seemed to have lost everything that kept him going, and it worried Sam to see his big brother like that. He couldn't make out what was happening to his brother exactly, but he knew that Dean had given up completely on everything linked to the breaking seals and the upcoming end of the world. He had given up on the job Heaven had given him, and this only made him think that Dean certainly couldn't do what Heaven wanted him to. Besides, whenever Bobby started to say something about one of those coordinates Kate had given him, he would just walk away. Sam knew now that absolutely everything rested on his shoulders. He had to stop Lilith, stop the breaking of the seals and prevent the Apocalypse, simply because there was no one else stronger enough to make it, but him.

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey Katie, it's Sam again. Um, Bobby just told me you and Matt stopped the breaking of a seal near Denver, in Colorado. Well done! I just hope you're being careful… It's been what, two weeks since I last saw you back in that hospital? Um, I hope you're doing alright… Dean is doing better… Still has a few medications to take, and he's being a real pain in the ass, he never wants to take them. All he wants to do is fix a few things in his car all day long even though it's friggin' cold outside… Haha… Um, anyways, I hope to hear from you soon, bye."<em>

"_Katie, um just wanted to check on you since you haven't called Bobby today... Um, we've been studying the coordinates you gave Bobby, and, well, all of them turned out to be places where seals are supposed to happen. So yeah, with Bobby we're trying to send as many hunters there as possible. Oh and by the way, Bobby's been reading those books Pamela left for you, but he's waiting for you to get back here to start listening to the tapes…Talk to you soon."_

"_Hi, um it's me again… Just the usual, you know? Trying to check on you and to make sure you're alright… Which I actually know since you call Bobby and let him know you're okay… It's Dean's birthday in a week, and I was hoping you'd be back before to wish him, you know? He's kinda grumpy lately with all that January snow, and I thought he would enjoy seeing you again. I dunno, it might give him that push to go back to hunting… Alright, um you tell me, okay? Bye."_

Kate looked down at her phone, pressed a button and the diegetic female voice announced that all of her voicemails were deleted. Her brown eyes never looked away from the tiny black item in her right hand. Sam had given it to her, when he returned from wherever he left while she was shopping on her second day here – or was it the third day? It felt like ages ago for her, but it was just a few months ago. It was in the days when she was just a girl trying to find her way back to her normal and ordinary universe, and when she had absolutely no idea what the difference between a wendigo and rougarou was. In the days when everything seemed so much easier for her, and yet it was still so complicated. It has always been complicated. Her whole life has always seemed to be this kind of big scribble done by a kid from kindergarten. So messy and senseless for an adult, and yet so beautiful and meaningful for this kid. As much as she knew how messy and senseless her life has always been, she knew some had it harder. This made her believe that her life had to be beautiful and meaningful somehow. But truth be told, she had never felt this way, and it had hurt her a lot to realize this back on the day her father passed away. Loneliness had embraced her so tightly that day, that she had even stopped looking for the possibility of beauty or sense in her life. As she shifted the phone slightly, her eyes landed on her palm where four little scars were aligned. Memory of the reason of their presence provoked a slight heartache.

Everything from that day back in December had made her want to run away. Because she was afraid; afraid of facing that good man she had destroyed instead of helping. He had been the one to save her from her own mind. He had been the one making her understand that she wasn't alone even though she had lost the man she admired and loved the most. He had been the one to pull her away from the tight embrace loneliness had been given her ever since her father's death. He was a good man who truly believed she was a good girl no matter what. He didn't deserve her to push him into doing what he was so terrified of. There was no way she could face that man she had betrayed because she was just so self-centered and so hypocritical. Sam had been nice enough to try to get in touch with her all of those times even though she kept on ignoring his calls and texts, but the fact that Dean had never once tried to contact her, had just made her realize that he didn't want anything to do with her. Why would he want to do anything with the woman who forced him into doing something he begged not to? Why would he want to do anything with someone like her?

All she had to do now, was to wait for the Winchesters to leave Bobby's house so she could get back there and research more on how to get back to her universe. She didn't belong in this universe with angels and demons and other creatures. She had no idea why she was brought here, but she wasn't going to stay no matter what purpose she had been sent here for in the first hand. She wasn't going to be their ghost of Christmas or whatever, besides Christmas was over now. She wasn't going to let any of those angels decide for her anymore. She was going to return to her universe weather Heaven and Hell liked it or not.

* * *

><p>Tapping her long red polished nails on the reception's counter, the young woman in a black two-button jacket, a crimson red shirt underneath and a knee-long black pencil skirt, was starting to get impatient. She looked up at the clock and let out a long sigh. Not only was she suffering in those high heels, but she was also going to be late for that interview if the reception lady didn't come back from wherever she left. Turning her brown eyes to the left, she noticed a window permitting a reflection just like a mirror. She gave herself a quick once-over, before reaching for her high ponytail that hung her straightened brown her up in a very professional way. She pulled at the base of her ponytail to tighten it. Her coat was resting on the edge of the receptionist's counter along with her side bag in which her flat boots were for when she'd have to leave this place. Even though she could walk with high heels, she was afraid to wear them outside in some cold and snowy days just like today. Sure, there was a bright sun today and it seemed to snow only at nights, but still the ground outside had a few parts covered with ice and it was dangerous for anyone wearing high heels or any other kind of shoes not adapted like the boots in her bag.<p>

"Miss Andrew," the middle-aged receptionist said making her turn around. "You can go ahead, the director of sales and marketing is waiting for you. You take the elevator up to twenty-two, walk straight, and turn left. The third door on your right will be his office. Office 2208; his name's on the door." The young brunette gave a nod and a polite smile, before grabbing her shoulder bag and walking towards the elevator.

When the elevator's doors slid open, she sighed in relief to see it empty. She stepped in and pushed the 22nd floor button, spinning around to face the doors. The elevator's doors almost closed shut when a very tall man in a yellow short-sleeved shirt, a jacket in his arms, a shoulder bag and a dark-blue scarf around his neck, ran towards it. She quickly pressed the button making the doors open. The tall brown-haired man let out a long exhale of relief as he was inside. She stepped aside as he glanced at her.

"Thanks," he told her and she gave him a gentle smile. He reached his long and strong arm and pushed on the button leading to his floor. Pulling his bag up, he turned his head back towards her and frowned. "You're new here?"

"Um, kinda. I've got an interview to, perhaps, become the assistant of the director in sales and marketing," she replied. He nodded before pulling his hand out almost abruptly.

"Sam Wesson," he introduced himself.

"Kate Andrew," she shook his large hand firmly with her little one, glancing up at his shirt that said '_Sandover Bridge & Iron Inc. Tech Support'_.

"Good firm handshake," he noted with an amused smile as they pulled hands away. She couldn't help the little smile that grew on her lips as she noticed the cute dimples forming on his cheeks.

"I've heard it shows confidence, assurance and strength," she told him as she looked up at the floor numbers. "I practiced all night." He chuckled before looking down at her face again, which she didn't take long to notice. "What?"

"No, it's just… You look familiar," he admitted when a beep rang, announcing he had reached his floor. "Anyways, um good luck with your interview."

"Thanks," she replied as he walked out of the elevator throwing a curious and thoughtful glance at her before the doors closed.

Kate followed the directions the receptionist had given her, passing by the lobby in which a Sandover Bridge & Iron history was displayed along one wall. She quickly found herself in front of a wide open door. Glancing in, she noticed a tall man, giving his back as he was standing in front of the wide window behind his desk. She looked at the door and read the sign on it.

_**2208 DEAN SMITH. Director, sales and marketing.**_

'Right office, at least I didn't get lost', she whispered to herself before turning her head back at the man talking to someone into a head phone set. She hated those kind of things as she remembered having to wear one of those all day long on her last temp job. She bit on her bottom lip, hesitating to knock on the door and make her presence known. Her hesitation didn't last long. The man in his striped blue and white shirt and a red tie, turned around and his gaze immediately landed on her. His eyes looked her up and down, from the top of her head to her toes, in the split of a second before he told whoever was on the other end of the line, he'd call them back later.

"Hey."

"Hey," she simply replied as she took in his gelled hair and his freckled face. He looked young to be a director in an enterprise and truth be told he looked like a life-size Ken doll. "Um, I'm Kate Andrew, I'm supposed to have a little interview with you about-"

"About the project 3B for next month, right?" He cut her off.

"Yes," she nodded as she stood in the doorway. He motioned for her to come in and sit down on one of the leather chairs facing his desk. Sitting down behind his desk, he watched her as she put down her shoulder bag and looked up at him. Her brown eyes met his green eyes, and she gave him a polite smile as she felt her neck flush a little bit. His eyes held an intense green she had never seen before, and the fact that he was watching her so closely made her feel a bit uncomfortable. "Um, I was told I had to have an interview with you, to make sure we can team up on this project."

"Yeah, yeah. You're supposed to be kind of my assistant, right?" He told her as he held eye contact with her.

"Kind of, yeah," she nodded her head, as she felt like getting hypnotized by the deep apple green of his eyes. She cleared her throat and reached for her bag. "I've got some papers to show you," she said as she pulled out a few files and looked through them. He glanced between her hands and her face. She had very delicate traits and looked like a very responsible and careful person. "Here," she said handing him a few papers. He took them and looked down at it. "I was called by Mr. Alder who told me to bring all of this." Dean skimmed a few of the few pages in his hands before putting them down.

"Looks pretty interesting," he told her. "You mind if I keep them for the day? I'll give them back to you, later."

"Um, sure alright," she nodded and then stuttered as she continued. "It's just, um I thought you were kinda supposed to see if that's what you're looking for. So that I can be hired, maybe."

"You are," he told her and she frowned in confusion. "You are hired. I've read your resume before you came, and the few lines I just read," he said as he rested one digit on the top of the pages she had given them. He tapped his fingertip on it. "That's good stuff."

"So, I got the job?" She asked, completely surprised. He tilted his head, his tongue raked his lips making her look there. She forced herself to look up into his eyes, and to forget the fullness of his naturally pink lips.

"You got one week of trial period. Think you can do it?" He said and she arched an eyebrow as a smile appeared on her lips.

* * *

><p>Putting some files in his briefcase, Dean Smith looked up when he heard the sounds of clicking heels coming from the hallway. Noticing his new assistant in her long black coat walking, he hurried up to catch her. He had had two meetings with her and a few other colleagues today, and there was no denying that she was good. She was very intelligent and tried to take part in the brainstorming in a very subtle way which had made him realize that she didn't like being in the spotlight. During the second meeting he was sitting right next to her and he had noticed a few words and ideas she had written down on her notebook. After that, he had told her that she should have shared them with everyone but according to her, on a first day it wasn't good to bring too much attention on oneself, so sharing just two ideas per meeting was good enough. All he took note of was that she was going to be a very good and promising co-worker.<p>

When Dean finished walking towards the elevator, he found her standing in front of its doors, head down as her fingers quickly tapped on her cellphone, probably texting someone. He opened his mouth to say something when his own cell phone vibrated in his jacket pocket. Sighing quietly, he pulled it out and looked at the mail he had just received concerning some new clients he had to take care of next week. He let out an exhale of tiredness. As much of a good and devoted worker as he was, he wasn't really in the mood to work again so late tonight. This promotion he had received a few weeks ago was sucking his personal life more and more every day. He looked up when he felt like if he was watched. Indeed, her brown eyes were glued to him. She gave him a polite smile as she felt awkward to have been caught on the action.

"Working late on your first day, huh?" He told her, in a gently teasing tone.

"I got some people to impress during my trial period," she replied jokingly. He chuckled, opening his mouth to interject when the bell of the elevator made her turn around. He followed her inside the elevator where another man already was standing there. She grinned at the very tall tech man. "Hi."

"Hey, Kate," he replied with an even bigger grin on his lips. Dean looked back and forth at them for a second before turning his attention back down on his phone. "So you stayed all day long, I suppose the interview went all right?"

"Yeah," she just replied and Dean could hear the little smile on her lips. With his face still lowered, he let his eyes travel to her long creamy legs in those high heels and this pencil skirt. He hadn't been with a woman for quite some time with all the work he's been having lately. Surely, working with that woman wasn't going to help him focus entirely on this new project that was given to him.

"He wasn't a dick to you, was he? The guy who gave you that interview," Sam whispered to her. Unfortunately for him, it was loud enough for Dean to hear him, which made this latter one look up at him with a dirty look.

"I don't think I was a dick to her… Was I, Miss Andrew?" Dean replied glancing at the brunette who pressed her lips together as she shook her head frantically. Sam's face had dropped.

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean any disrespect," Sam stuttered as Dean just huffed before shaking his head and looking down at his phone. Kate pressed her lips together as she looked up at Sam, with an expression of apology on her face. However, he didn't look at her at all. His eyes were completely glued to the other man. "Do I know you?" He asked as Dean looked up, frowning his eyebrows as he questioned with his eyes if the question really was asked to him.

"I don't think so," he replied before tilting his head as he looked down at his phone. "And you're lucky for that."

"I'm sorry man, you just look very familiar," Sam said as Kate watched the interaction between the two, curiously, when Sam's face turned towards her. "And so do you."

"That's because we've met this morning," Kate replied with a light chuckle.

"No, I mean ever since that morning, I got this feeling I know you from somewhere," Sam told her as Dean looked up at the two of them. "But, _you_," he said turning his hazel eyes towards Dean. "I feel like you're really, really familiar."

"Save it for the health club, pal," Dean replied making Kate raise her eyebrows. The elevator bell rang before opening its doors. "You're not going to the parking lot?" He asked Kate as he looked at her. There was a little technical problem with the elevators of that building. To get to the parking lot you had to change elevator at the second floor or to simply take the stairs there.

"No, I've got someone waiting for me outside the building."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then." He told her and she nodded. He threw a glance at Sam as he walked out.

Kate turned her head towards Sam who was staring at the elevator's doors. He looked very pensive, as though something was very bothering him deep down but he was unable to figure out what. And somehow, Kate realized right at that moment how familiar _he_ looked to her.

* * *

><p><em><strong>The next day.<strong>_

As Sam headed for the coffeepot, his colleague and friend named Ian, went to a supply cabinet. He opened it and started pocketing packets of pencils while Sam poured coffee for both of them. Suddenly a soft female voice spoke up from the doorway, surprising Ian which made him drop one packet of pencils on the floor.

"You should do it at the end of the day, when no one's on alert."

"Kate!" Sam exclaimed as he saw the brunette in a brown button up, a black straight-leg pants, ending with the same black polished high heels than the day before. Her hair was still tied in a high ponytail, but unlike yesterday she wasn't wearing any make up aside from some eyeliner that made her brown eyes pop out of her delicate face.

"Sam," she smiled as she crouched down and grabbed the packet before standing up and handing it back to the man with casual clothes. "Your friend?" She said nodding her head at the man who stared at her.

"We're best buddies," the man with blue eyes and a few days long beard replied making Sam raise his eyebrows. "So if Sam's your friend that makes me your friend too, right? So, you're not gonna head to the big boss and get me fired right?" He continued in a rapid and obviously panicked voice. She looked at him before a little smile cracked on her lips.

"I'm just here to warm my food," she said rising the box lunch in her other hand to show it. She gave Sam a friendly smile as she walked to the microwave.

"Dude," Sam mouthed at Ian who shrugged.

"What? I was just doing a little shopping. Running low at home," he replied as Sam sighed and handed him a cup of coffee.

"Want some, Kate?" He asked her as she closed the microwave and looked at the buttons of it.

"No thanks," she said after glancing at the coffee. She pressed the buttons and pulled out from her pants pocket her phone. She opened a mail and started reading it.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Ian asked.

"Hum, we just met yesterday in the elevator," Sam replied before glancing at her and then at the microwave. "May I ask why you're not warming your food up there, with the other higher ups?"

"Their microwave doesn't work. Besides, all of them have like rabbit food… Cold fresh salad or pieces of vegetables… while I have some great leftovers," she replied before grinning as she nodded at the microwave. "Macaroni and cheese."

"Oh that's heaven," he smiled jokingly as Ian watched the two with attention.

"You bet it is," she replied before looking down at her cell phone again.

"So, Sam, had any of those dreams lately?" Ian asked making a bitch face expression appear on the face of the tall man who decided to turn away. Kate glanced up at him, curious. "What? Don't be like that. Come on. It's the highlight of my day."

"I never should have told you in the first place," Sam replied almost mumbling. Kate looked back and forth at the two men, understanding that Sam was rather embarrassed by his dreams which made her even more curious to hear about them.

"They're genius. Don't hold out on me, dude. Share with the class," Ian said as he threw a glance at Kate. Sam looked at Kate who raised her eyebrows, and held her hands up as to show him she hadn't done nor said anything and wasn't planning on. Ian turned his head towards Kate. "He has the best dreams ever! You have to hear that. Come on, Sam, share with the class."

"You're just gonna be a dick about it, Ian," Sam replied.

"What? No way. I won't say a word. Come on, they're genius!"

"You're already being a dick about it, Ian," Sam told him and Kate pressed her lips together trying not to laugh.

"Come on! Total respect, go!" Ian said as Sam clenched his teeth a little bit, looking down at Kate who turned her attention back to the microwave, getting her warmed food out.

"If that makes you more comfortable, I have weird dreams all the time," Kate said as Ian waved his hand at her making an expression to Sam as if to tell he could say it then.

"I dreamt that I saved a Grim Reaper named Tessa from demons," Sam confessed, his tone almost reluctant. Ian burst out laughing as Kate stood frozen, with her plate in her hand. Sam sighed looking away.

"Classic! How much D&D did you play when you were a kid? Oh, my-okay, so you-rescuing the Grim Reaper. That's-you're a hero. I mean, thank God we got Harry Potter here to save us all from the apocalypse!"

"Dick," Sam shot at him.

"Wizard!" Ian shot back at him. Sam shook his head before glancing at Kate who was watching him in a very bizarre way.

"You're alright?" He asked her and she nodded slowly.

"She's just shocked by your dreams! Oh please, you gotta tell her about that dream where you had to kill that-" Ian started to say laughing when Kate's phone buzzed in one hand and she interrupted him.

"Hum I gotta go," she said as she glanced down at her phone before quickly walking away. Sam frowned his eyebrows as he watched her leave.

"Forget Mimi," Ian said as he pointed with his thumb at the direction Kate left to. "I wanna hit that." Sam looked down at him, his brow furrowed a little bit at what he had just said. "Don't you?"

"Not really… She reminds me of a sister," Sam said more to himself than to Ian.

"Wait, you got a sister like that and you never introduced me to her?" Ian exclaimed.

"I don't-I don't have any siblings, I'm an only child. She just gives me that feeling of sister-like, you know what I mean?" He replied before Ian's eyebrows knit together in confusion obviously not knowing what he meant. "By the way, if I had a sister, let alone one like her, I would never introduce you to her."

* * *

><p>Sam yawned as he waited for the elevator. The end of the day was always a real bliss for him, he couldn't wait to get back to his little apartment and chill out without any of those phones ringing non-stop around him. What he longed for the most right then, was to get a good cold beer and a large pizza in his warm apartment while watching some television show. He didn't like this town very much, and always wanted to go back to his little place as quick as possible even though deep down he didn't like his apartment that much either.<p>

When the elevator arrived, the doors slid open to a crowd of people in suits and coats, ready to return to their homes too. Noticing Dean in there, Sam tensed a little bit remembering those sort of flashbacks he had earlier about him and this man fighting together against creatures straight from movies and nightmares. Trying his best not to stare at him, Sam couldn't help but wonder how he could have had such a flow of images about a man he didn't know at all. But what bugged him the most, was the fact that those images and the atmosphere of them, didn't seem nor feel wrong at all. In fact, they felt quite natural. The elevator whirred and a ding sound appeared, the doors opening. Everyone but Sam and Dean, walked out. When the elevator doors closed, Sam couldn't stop himself. He had to ask that man a few questions.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Look, man, I told you, I'm not into the, uh-" Dean started only to be cut off by an exasperated Sam.

"Oh dude, come on, I'm not either. I just wanna ask you one question."

"Sure," Dean replied after looking around and understanding there was no escape.

"What do you think about ghosts?" Sam asked taking the man in the grey suit by surprise. He was expecting everything but this kind of questions.

"Ghosts?"

"Do you believe in them?" Sam asked as he watched Dean's face. Dean let out a laugh that was a bit nervous.

"Uh, tell you the truth, I've never given it much thought," he replied.

"Vampires?" Sam asked as he remembered those creatures and images that had crossed his mind earlier.

"What? Why?"

"Because I've been having some weird dreams lately. You know what I mean?" Sam told him as Dean frowned his eyebrows.

"No. Not really."

"So you've never had any...weird dreams?"

"All right, look, man, I don't know you, okay? But I'm gonna do a public service and, uh, let you know that-that you overshare," Dean told him as he pulled the shoulder strap of his bag up before pressing a floor button and getting out of the elevator.

* * *

><p><em><strong>The next day.<strong>_

Walking quickly down the little hallway near the cubicle farm, her brown eyes scanned the people's heads, with a slightly panicked appearance on her face, while on the inside she was completely freaking out. She was trying to find the only person she thought could save her before her mistake got caught on. She had been working on Dean's documents when suddenly she deleted all of them. Dean had mentioned to her the previous day on a mail that he had given her the only versions existed of those documents in that USB flash, and God knows why she had decided to copy them to her computer and then completely deleted them from his USB flash. She had thought it wasn't big deal, but the minute she wanted to put them back on his USB flash she had realized that they were gone. All of the unique copies of his documents were deleted from her computer. And, if Dean came back from his meeting to find out what she had done, she wasn't going to last long in this company, left alone in this trial period.

She almost stumbled back when she collided with someone.

"Sorry," she said before she met the blue eyes of that man she had met the day before.

"Hello," he said smiling. "You're the girl who uses our microwave because there ain't any working back on the land of the suited up lords… Mmh Kate, right?"

"And you're the boy who does his shopping here because it's easier than going to an actual shop, mmh Ian, right?" She said making him chuckle before he abruptly stopped and snapped his finger up at her face.

"You didn't tell on me, did you?" He asked, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"What? No, why would I? Actually, I went there to take a few pencils myself last night before going home," she replied making him chuckle as she looked down at his casual tee-shirt. "I was wondering, hum, do you know where Sam is?"

"Yep, keep straight, it's the fourth row on your left," he told her. "I gotta go and see the HR. Wish me luck," he said walking away.

Kate walked a few steps until a man at her left started to panic out loud making her look at him.

"No no no no no no. Come on. Don't do this to me! Please," he begged his computer, she looked up when she noticed the tall man she was looking for, leaning over Paul's cubicle.

"Hey, man, you okay?" Sam asked with concern as he looked at the old man with glasses.

"It froze," the old man just replied as Kate noticed Sam's eyes landing on her with an expression of slight surprise on his face. It was only her second time on this floor, but it hadn't been hard for her to notice the lack of people in a suit around. They were all wearing those yellow shirts, well except Ian, but she had figured he wasn't the kind to love and devote his whole self for the company. Thus, Kate understood why many gazes had followed her when she stepped out of the elevator. She didn't belong on this floor and they weren't very glad to see someone from the upper parts of the hierarchy walk around here.

"They're crap, Paul. They freeze all the time," he told the man as he walked around and went to where the brunette was standing.

"You don't understand. When I, when I rebooted, everything was gone. A whole day's work deleted," he replied and Kate grimaced knowing far well the situation, and the frustration and panic it created.

"Well, did you back up?" Sam asked him.

"No, I didn't back up. I wish to God I backed up but I didn't! I'll get it back. I'll find it. It's somewhere. I'll find it," Paul said more to himself than to Sam.

"Paul, it's okay, man. These things happen… Come on in two weeks, you'll be retired from all of this," Sam told him before looking down at the young woman by his side. "What are you doin' here, Kate? You're okay?"

"Actually, no," she told him with a grimace. "Can you come to my office for a few minutes?"

"What's wrong?" He asked her and she nodded her head towards the old man typing on his keyboard frenetically.

"Kinda the same problem. But I think there's a backup somewhere in the computer, I just can't find it."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do."

* * *

><p>Kate watched Sam as his fingers moved quickly and swiftly on her computer's keyboard. His face looked very intensive as he was deeply focused on what he was doing, his brows lightly brought together as his hazel eyes scanned the things popping in and out of the screen. She was standing right next to him, one arm over her stomach and the other brought up as her hand was rubbing her chin. She was biting on her bottom lip the whole time, while her hand rubbed and pinched her own chin now and then, depending on Sam's facial expressions. Her eyes travelled a few times over his not-so-short brownish chestnut hair, it made him look so young and she wondered how old he was all of sudden. He couldn't be that much older than her, but he was surely around 25 years old. Maybe, he was even younger than she was.<p>

"Got it!" He exclaimed as he pushed himself back on the quite long leather wheelchair of her desk. He looked up at her and she rose her eyebrows.

"It's done?"

"Yep!" He nodded as he wheeled around in the chair so he could face her. "It was just in some subfolder deep down in the system," he told her and she nodded. "I changed a couple of things so next time you'll work, you'll have an automatic back up every ten minutes."

"Oh great!" She exclaimed before walking right next to him. "But could you do this automatic back up for like every three minutes? I'm a big disaster with computers and I wouldn't want to have to call you back again next time."

"Sure," he replied as he wheeled the chair to face the computer. He stopped, his head rising to look at her. "On a second thought, I think it'd be better for you to do it. So you learn how, you know?"

"Yeah, not a bad idea," she smiled and he smiled back. She took a step back to let him stand up and then she sat down on her chair. She wheeled it closer to the keyboard and glanced up at him. "Alright, what am I supposed to do now?"

"You click on this," he said pointing at one logo on the screen. She obliged, her eyes focused on the screen as he kept on giving her some directions. As he kept talking, he kept leaning closer and closer over her shoulder. Deciding to make small talk so nothing would turn too awkward in spite of the closeness, she cleared her throat and said the first thing that crossed her mind.

"So, you've been working here for long now?"

"Hum, no. Actually, it's been three weeks now," he replied as he glanced at her before he pointed another logo to click on. "And, you're done here."

"Wasn't that hard," she said and he chuckled. She turned around in her chair, her hands on the armchair and studied his face. "So how do you like it so far?"

"Honestly?" He replied.

"No, I want you to lie to me," she replied and he gave her a little smile.

"I hate it here. This whole company, the town… Everything I just, I dunno, I don't like it," he shrugged.

"Should have let you lie," she mumbled looking away.

"Why?" He chuckled.

"I just came in this city like not even a week ago. And I've been feeling kinda out of place, I thought if someone just told me I was homesick and it will pass, that the city and this company is worth it… I don't know, I thought I'd would just be happy to stick around," she explained shrugging.

"Oh," he said nodding his head as he watched her face. "Where do you come from?"

"Um, Paris, on and off. I've been back to Topeka where I grew up a few months ago and then I got a few jobs," she told him as he listened carefully. "I was… I was working in Paris actually and when I came here, I got some little problems to get back to Paris, and then I…" She frowned her eyebrows as if she had a hard time telling why she was here. It felt as if she was recounting someone else's life story and this was completely weird. "I got a few jobs here and there… Well, long story short, I got in contact with Mr. Adler, who got me here. He told me there was some new promising director in sales and marketing with who I could work on a project…"

"You don't sound so sure," he told her as she looked up at him, and shook her head.

"It's just… When I say it, I feel like… I don't know…"

"Like it's not your life?" He asked her. And it was exactly this. He had figured it out precisely. Suddenly her beeper buzzed around her waist. She looked down at it, and groaned.

"I've gotta go to a meeting," she announced standing up.

"I gotta go too, anyways," he replied nodding. "The cubicles of tech support won't survive that much without me."

"I bet they're lost without you and it's a big chaos down there," she laughed as she gathered a few files in her arms.

"Hey, don't mock me."

"I'm not mocking you," she replied shaking her head as she grabbed her cell phone and put it in her pocket. She looked up at him as he was standing in the doorway. "Thank you again for helping me, by the way," she told him as she finished taking everything she needed. She walked towards him as he pulled her door open and stood aside to let her step out first.

"No problem," he said as he walked out and pulled the door close. "By the way," he said making her look up at him. "It goes away; that homesickness it goes away eventually. And your life in this city and this company will just feel better than anything else." She couldn't help the light scoff that left her nostrils as a soft smile danced on her lips.

"Thanks for lying to me."

"You're welcome," he grinned without showing his teeth. She turned around and walked towards the rooms where meetings were held as he watched her go. He couldn't help but frown a little bit as the feeling of familiarity radiating from her, seemed to grow more and more intense.

* * *

><p><em><strong>The next day.<strong>_

The brunette in a bright blue shirt and a grey pencil skirt watched as a few people in coroner outfits rolled the body of that old man who was completely burned past. She sighed, her hands folded over her chest as she held her arms, trying to comfort herself over this tragedy. Many people from other floors had come to the cubicle farm floor when they had heard the bad news. A man had killed himself by putting his head inside the microwave. It was even more terrible when she heard Ian talking with one of his colleagues and say that the person who committed suicide was the old man who was panicking in front of his computer the day before. His name was Paul, and when Sam and she were in the elevator making their way to her office, she had learned that he was usually a very chilled out and sweet man. She felt a hand gently and comfortingly tapping on her shoulder blade, making her turn around to see Dean. He gave her a gentle smile that she returned before he turned his head and crossed Sam's eyes.

"Something about this seem not right to you?" Dean said to another man, as he kept his hand on Kate's blade, gently rubbing up and down there without even noticing it himself.

"Uh, yeah, try the whole thing. I'm telling you, man, I'll never eat popcorn again," the man replied making Kate frown as she looked up at him with an almost glare.

"Yeah, right," Dean just said as he never looked away from the tall man in the yellow tech shirt a few feet away.

"He was supposed to have a retirement party in two weeks," Kate just said in a soft voice. Dean looked down at her.

"You knew him?" Dean asked her and she shook her head.

"No… Sam told me," she replied and Dean frowned his eyebrows as he slowly nodded his head, before looking towards Sam. Their eye contact never broke as a feeling of weirdness and suspicion grew inside both of them.

* * *

><p>At one o'clock that afternoon, Kate had grabbed her lunch box ready to go to Sam's floor to get her food warmed, when she stopped abruptly remembering the incident that happened in that room. She put her lunch box down and sighed before grabbing her coat and her purse, to go get some sandwich somewhere around the building. She didn't know the area very well, but she had located a few fast-food stores around the block.<p>

As she walked down the hallway, she passed by Dean's office. His door was wide open like always, and she wondered how he could focus on his work with so many people passing by his office all day long. Besides, he had to stop working once in a while, right? He wasn't working 24/7, right? She stopped and glanced around her if anyone was there, before taking a few light steps back to throw a glance inside his office. She wanted to see if he was one of those hard workers that never stopped working. When she leaned her head, she noticed him putting down a few papers before reaching for an uncovered plastic plate with some salad.

"Hey Kate," someone said as they passed her by. She turned her head to see who it was before turning her attention back to Dean. He was staring right at her. Yep, that's what we call getting busted.

"Need something?" He asked her as he noticed the way she was leaning, her hands gripping at the edge of his doorway as only her head and her upper body were showing to him. She tried to straighten up but somehow she only managed to fall straight on the floor. "Shit!" Dean exclaimed as he dropped his plate on his desk and quickly made his way towards her. "You're okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," she replied as he helped her up. "I'm good, thanks," she said as she was now standing. He put his hands away and looked at her as she fixed her high ponytail.

"Alright," he said as he watched her face. She had very soft features and her voice held the same kind of softness. Her voice wasn't too high pitch or too low. It was just a nice in-between and he liked that. And there again, he felt that thing he couldn't describe about her. Some sort of soothing feeling seemed to release from her, and without even knowing why, he knew he liked it.

"Oh no," she said her gaze looking over his shoulder. He frowned as he followed her gaze that was steered to his desk. Half of his lunch was spread all over the papers he was working on before his attention got caught by her.

"Oh man," he sighed as he walked to his desk. She walked with him and pulled out a package of tissues from her pocket.

"I'm so sorry, Dean," she told him as she helped him get the salad away from the documents on his desk.

"It's alright," he replied as he grabbed the garbage can. He took the tissue from her and gathered all the mess towards the edge of his desk before throwing it all in the garbage can. He glanced up and noticed that her features were genuinely sorry. "Hey, Kate. It's alright, I'll print it again. It's not your fault. I mean I shouldn't even have lunch and work at the same time," he glanced down at her long black coat and before returning his gaze up to her sparkling brown eyes. "You're heading somewhere?"

"Hum I was gonna grab some lunch," she replied before something clicked in her brain. "You want me to bring you something?"

"No," he shook his head, a corner smile forming on his lips. "What about we go together, huh?"

* * *

><p>"So you're on a diet?" Kate said as she glanced up at Dean. They were walking back to the office after buying some sandwiches and sodas at a little shop just five minutes away from their building.<p>

"Well, it's more like a detox thing, you know," he replied as she eyed him up and down quickly.

"You don't look like the kind to need a diet," she told him as they turned left towards the front of their building.

"I told you it's not really a diet," he told her as he glanced down at her. Her lips curled into a tiny amused smile. "I'm serious. It's really to detox my whole body."

"For sure, that's the reason why you bought this off the menu," she remarked as she held up the bag with their food. He had insisted on carrying it and she had refused saying that being a woman didn't make her unable to carry a bag of food. "I mean salad and water, really? Don't you ever eat something else?"

"I eat sushi sometimes," he replied thoughtfully, she rose her eyebrows as she looked up at him. "But mainly, I try to stick on my diet."

"Ha!" She exclaimed pointing one digit finger at him. "You admitted it. It's a diet," he shook his head. "It's a diet, don't you deny it."

"It's not-not really a diet," he stuttered as they walked in the building. She let out a laugh, turning around to face him while still walking towards the elevator. "Hey you keep on laughing at me and I'll make you work hard," he replied chuckling as she pushed the elevator's button, stopping right in front of the doors. She pressed her lips together and fixed her eyes at him, an eyebrow arched. "It's a joke you know… Hum it wasn't meant to sound too strict or hum-"

"Or flirtatious?" She finished for him and he gulped. He knew he was going to have troubles because those kind of things that could be misinterpreted, always brought troubles to directors. Especially, when it was said to his female assistant who was also a sort of colleague on a trial period and who had very long and sexy legs. He mentally slapped away that inappropriate thought before it went too far. All of sudden, she laughed throwing her head back. His eyes fell on her neck and he felt as if he was supposed to feel guilty and sorry about something that had happened to her neck. "I'm only joking, Dean. Come on, let's go." She said as she stepped into the elevator and he followed. He couldn't help but frown at that weird feeling that had irrupted in him ever since he looked at her neck.

* * *

><p>Dean had convinced Kate to have lunch in his office, and she accepted as long as he didn't put his head set on. They were sitting across each other around his desk, and Kate couldn't help but laugh at him whenever he glanced at her soda with envy. She had offered him some but he had refused the three times. Kate had been genuinely surprised to find out that he was even sweeter than what he had let on those past couple of days. Mainly, their conversations had turned around what their lives were like before they joined the Sandover Company. Kate had found it once again very hard to talk about her life without feeling as if it wasn't her life. This feeling of chanting something that was fixed in her mind whenever she talked about herself and her past, was hard to shake off, and she was quite sure that Dean had noticed that in her. However, he hadn't lingered on it and had just deduced that she wasn't very at ease. Thus, he had taken the lead and had decided to talk about himself a little bit.<p>

It wasn't very long until their lunch break was over, and the Kate stood up to return to her little office. However, Dean suggested to her to just bring all she needed to work at his office so they could work on that project 3B. So here they were at almost five pm, working on his computer. Kate had moved one of his many chairs around his desk, so she could be sitting right next to him behind his desk. It made it easier for them to work on the same computer. Nonetheless, Dean had put his head set back at almost three in the afternoon, which Kate had told him more than once was completely useless and ridiculous. He had explained to her that it was easier and she had asked him to tell her in which ways it was. Of course he had told her all good arguments but Kate had found arguments to come back with, and he had just given up on telling her how life changing this kind of thing was.

"If you put this one, it'd be better," she said as she pointed at his computer screen with the pen she had been chewing on the whole afternoon. Dean looked at her face before looking at what she was showing.

"You think so?" He asked her from his seat, right next to hers. He looked down at the left side of her neck and noticed three moles there just below her jaw.

"Well," she said before turning on her seat to find him looking at her neck. She cleared her throat making him look up at her face. "You should really put it off," she told him, tapping his head set slightly with her pen.

"You think so?" He asked in an almost whisper as he never looked away from her eyes.

"You're repeating yourself," she whispered.

"You think so?" He repeated making her chuckle lightly, her eyes drifting away for a moment. When she turned her gaze back to him, she noticed that his eyes were staring at her lips. She was frozen, not knowing what to do nor what to say.

Her eyes looked over his face and she couldn't deny that he had very well-drawn features for a man. As a matter of fact, he was just _beautiful_. A sudden image of him standing under the pouring rain, near a porch, crossed her mind. A soft expression on his face as his eyebrows were slightly frowned, while raindrops were streaming down his face. His eyes looking down at her. And in that image that didn't last long, she had noticed something different in his eyes. However, the image faded away too soon for her to even figure out what that was. She blinked a couple of times when a light knock was heard. She looked at the door and noticed Ian standing there.

"Ian!" She exclaimed with a smile, as Dean turned his head towards the man in a second.

"Ian, oh hi. Yeah, so you're Ian," Dean said as he coughed, certainly as embarrassed about what had just happened between them as her. However, thinking about it, nothing had happened so there was no reason to feel embarrassed, right? Kate looked at Dean as he turned around in his seat so he could face the man. Then, she turned her head towards Ian and frowned at his yellow shirt. According to Sam, he never ever wore his work shirt except from his very first day here. "Come on in. Yesterday you filled out a 445-T and no problem, just a few errors when we did your switch over to Vista. So I'm sure you're used to filling out the dash-R's, am I right?"

"Oh, no," Ian said looking and sounding completely lost which confused Kate. The few times she talked to him, she had noticed how careless he was about the company. So, to see him react this way surprised her.

"No no no. It's fine. It's fine. I just need you to redo one today so I can get the show on the road with the invoicing," Dean told him before pushing a paper over the desk, with a gentle smile on his lips. Kate's brow furrowed at the expression of terror that grew on Ian's face as he looked at the paper Dean was giving him.

"Oh my god," Ian said and Kate felt the need to step in.

"Hey, it's fine, Ian. Just some re-filing to do," she told him softly.

"Yeah, re-file it and we're square," Dean said nodding his head.

"I can't believe I did this," Ian panicked which made both Dean and Kate starting to understand something really wrong was happening with the man. "I can't believe I-I can't believe I did this."

"Hey, Ian, come on," Kate said as she stood up from her seat, making Dean glance up at her.

"No, no. It affected profits. It-I screwed up. I-I can't-I can't-I am so sorry. I-how could I do that? I failed Sandover. I failed the company," Ian said as Kate stood at one side of the desk, a bit confused by what was happening right now. She didn't know that man very much, but from what she knew about him, she knew that failing the company was the least of his problems.

"Alright, why don't you sit down, Ian?" Dean said in a calming voice as he stood up, and motioned his hands gently down.

"No," Ian said before running out of the room. Kate and Dean glanced at each other before going after Ian.

"Ian? Ian. Hey!" Dean said as they walked down the hallway towards the bathroom where they saw him go. Dean turned to look at Kate when he saw the sign saying it was the men's bathroom. She looked at him as he tilted his head towards the sign.

"Oh come on, he may be having a panic attack in there," she told him before pushing past him to walk into the bathroom. He quickly followed her as he heard her talk to the tech man. "Ian, hey, it's me, Kate. Just chill out, man. Okay?"

Turning around, Dean saw Ian staring into the long mirror on the wall just above the faucets. The poor man looked completely stressed out, and all Dean kept thinking about was how this kind of things happens to someone? Do working in a cubicle really turn people nuts or depressed? Was there that much of a pressure in this kind of job? Was that the same kind of pressure that pushed the old man to commit suicide while he was going to leave this company very soon? He had no answer for all of this, but he could feel that every inch of his body wanted to help… No, every inch of his body _needed_ to help. He felt like helping this man, saving him was the only thing he was supposed to do.

All of sudden, all of the faucets switched on, on their own. So did all of the soap dispensers. Kate watched the faucets and soap dispensers with confusion, as they were pouring their liquids very forcefully, until the soap made its way on the floor. She looked at Dean when she felt the room getting colder and noticed Dean's breath briefly visible as his whole face was frowned in concern of what was happening right then.

"Ian, hey, maybe we should get out of here, huh? Come on. Ian. Look at me," Dean said as he made one step towards the man. Ian turned around towards Dean and Kate. He pulled a pencil out of his pocket as he stared at them almost absently before he suddenly stabbed himself in the neck with the pencil. Kate took a sharp intake of breath as she stared with wide eyes at the spout of blood coming from his neck.

She was frozen in spot as a flow of images crossed her mind quickly. Dean straddling her and cutting on her arm under some pouring rain, Dean pushing her against a wall before cutting her neck a little bit, Dean being thrown in a sort of basement and herself running towards him while being barefoot on shattered pieces of broken glass, waking up curled to him in a bed, hugging him in some bathroom, hugging him in some graveyard. All of sudden, she was pulled away from those images by the sound of Dean's voice calling for her.

"Kate, go find some help!" He screamed and she looked down at his face before looking at the man who was collapsed in his arms. She turned around and stopped when she saw an old man in the mirror. She shook her head and ran out of the bathroom, thinking she had just hallucinated once again. Little did she know that Dean had noticed this old man in the mirror too, and he had seen her seeing him as well.

* * *

><p>Kate was chewing on her bottom lip as she was sitting a little bit curled up in her office. She felt as though she was going crazy. Not only was she having more and more weird dreams and visions for at least a week, but now she had to be surrounded by nightmare material. Two dead people ready to haunt her nights and scare her until she decided to go on sleepless night and try to stay awake through coffee only. Somehow, she felt like she could do that, as if she had already done that in some other life. Her eyes turned round and big as she stared at a wall.<p>

"I'm getting crazy… Completely crazy," she said to herself when her desk phone rang startling her. She looked at it for a moment before reaching for it. "Yeah?" She answered in a little voice, forgetting the little introduction things she was supposed to say whenever she answered this phone.

"Can you come to my office?"

"Dean?"

"Yeah, please… It's, um… I think we need to talk about what happened in the bathroom," he replied on the other line. Kate nodded, before she cleared her throat and told him she'd be there in a couple of minutes.

When she arrived at his door, she had the bizarre impression that she hadn't waken up from the nightmare that happened earlier that day. Two nightmares actually. This morning they had found Paul dead in the break room, and an hour ago she had witnessed the suicide of a man she had been starting to get along with. What a long and eventful day…

Seeing Dean's door opened, she didn't even knocked on the door as she walked in. She stopped in the middle of his office as she saw him just finishing taking off his shirt, his hand reaching for another one. She noticed his fairly strong arms stop along with the rest of his body. She frowned before her eyes travelled up his rather tanned chest to meet his green orbs staring back at her. He had caught her watching him again. And sure she should already be apologizing to him or even blush and look away. But she didn't. If he didn't want to be seen, he should have closed his door. Besides she wasn't really checking him out so it didn't count, did it?

Trying not to let his intense gaze pierce through her or make her feel uncomfortable somehow, she walked to one of the chairs facing his desk and sat down, her gaze lost on the top of his desk and not anymore on his body as long as he wasn't wearing a shirt. He coughed lightly as he put his shirt on.

"I thought you'd come later," he said as she played with a bracelet around her wrist that she remembered having for a long time now. However, somehow she couldn't really point out why she always wore it while it was completely not in synch with her other outfits. She just always wore it for as far as she could remember.

"I was going nuts on my own," she replied and he nodded his head.

"Yeah, well don't worry, we're gonna solve all of that… You know that friend of yours from the tech department? Sam Wesson?" He told her as he buttoned up his shirt. "He knows some things and he's gonna help us solve it all." She frowned completely confused by his words.

"What?" She asked him as a knock on the door was heard. She turned her head to see Sam standing in the doorway. Dean finished buttoning up his shirt as he glanced at him.

"Come on in. Shut the door," Dean told him which Sam obliged without saying a word. He glanced at Kate sitting on a chair and looking completely worn out. He knew what had happened in the bathroom must have shocked her a lot. But he hadn't seen her since then, and had planned to check on her before going home. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm not sure I know," Sam replied making both Kate and Dean frown in complete puzzlement.

"What?" Kate said as she looked up at Sam who was standing just a foot away from her.

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked a bit more frustrated than her as he was leaning his hands on the back of his chair.

"Sam Wesson. I started here three weeks ago," Sam replied.

"Alright. You cornered me in the elevator talking about ghosts," Dean said as Kate looked up at him, her sparkling brown eyes almost burning on him. He sighed as he turned his attention back to the tall tech man. "And now..."

"Now what?" Sam asked, trying to make Dean finish his thought. There was a little pause and Kate wondered if Dean had seen that old man in the mirror. He looked like a ghost, but it couldn't be one, could it? And, she couldn't say this, could she? If she told them this, they would certainly call her crazy and Dean would fire her before the end of her trial period.

"Now nothing. I, uh...so you started working here three weeks ago, huh?" Dean said going over his shelf where he had put the bottle of his cleanse. Sam nodded at him. "Yeah, me too." Kate looked up, taken aback.

"I thought you got promoted three weeks ago?" She asked him.

"I started working here three weeks ago and got promoted on my fourth day here," he replied as Sam and Kate both looked surprised.

"Is this how it happens around here?" She asked as she drew a circle in the air with her pointer finger.

"I've worked really hard, and Mr. Adler had apparently heard a lot of good stuff 'bout me. He wanted me to have this job immediately, but he needed to give me a sort of trial period beforehand," he explained and Sam couldn't help but scoff a little bit. "Anyways," he looked up at Sam who watched him as he unscrewed the top of the bottle. "It's the Master Cleanse. You tried it? Phenomenal. Detoxes you like nobody's business." Dean started to drink and Kate made a grimace of disgust as she turned to Sam whose features looked very serious.

"When you were in that bathroom with Ian, both of you, did you see something?" He asked and Dean pulled the bottle away from his lips. He didn't say a word though, and Kate realized that his silence plus the expression on his face equaled a positive answer. He had seen something back there. He had more than possibly seen the same old man than she.

"I don't know," she started bringing the two men's attention towards her. "I don't know what I saw… Not really, but I know I saw something…"

"Wait. Are you saying that - did you see a ghost?" Sam asked her as he finally sat down on the chair next to her.

"I was freaking out… I'm not sure of what I saw," she replied shaking her head. Sam swallowed, nodding his head before turning his head to Dean.

"Did you see something?" He asked him.

"What? Come on, I was freaking out too! I mean the guy penciled his damn neck!" Dean exclaimed, but the tone he used and the expression written all over his face was a giveaway once again.

"You did, didn't you?" Sam said as Kate looked at him while Dean lowered his head. He turned his head towards her. "Okay, listen. What if these suicides aren't suicides?" He said before looking back at Dean who was standing behind his desk, with a thoughtful frown on his freckled face. "I mean, what if they're something… _not natural_?"

"So, what, ghosts are real?" Kate exclaimed as Dean sat down.

"Yeah, and they're responsible for all the dead bodies around here? Is that what you're telling us?" Dean finished.

"I know it sounds crazy. But yes. That's what I'm telling you," Sam replied, looking back and forth between the young woman at his left and the man sitting across from him.

"Uh-huh. Based on what?" Dean asked and Sam's brow furrowed as he looked for something to say.

"Instinct," Sam suggested as Kate watched his face.

"This has to be the worst thing to base on whatever is happening around here," she stated as Sam looked at her. "But… I think I've got the same instinct." Dean's green eyes shot up at her, then at Sam who rested a hand on her arm, gently. He shook his head and backed up.

"Damn… I've got the same instinct, too."

"Seriously?" Sam was taken aback just as much as Kate. Dean didn't look like the kind to believe those kind of things. He looked very rational, and somehow he felt as though it would be harder to convince him than to convince Kate. Then again, maybe it was because he knew Kate a little bit better than he did Dean. "You know those dreams I was telling you about? I was dreaming about ghosts."

"Yeah," Dean said and Kate frowned as she looked down, remembering her own weird dreams.

"And then it turns out that there's a real ghost," Sam continued as Kate opened her mouth to say that she had weird dreams involving some kind of ghost and other creatures too.

"So you're telling me that your dreams are special visions and you're some kind of psychic?" Dean asked him.

"No. I mean, that would be nuts," Sam replied and Kate shut her mouth, thinking it'd be wiser not to overshare now. "I'm just saying something weird is definitely going on around here, right? So I've been digging around a little." Sam pulled a few papers out of his bag which surprised Dean and Kate a little bit. "I think I found a connection between the two guys." He passed the papers to Dean who looked down at them before handing them to Kate.

"You broke into their email accounts?" Dean asked as he watched Sam's face.

"I used some skills that I happen to have to satisfy my curiosity."

"Isn't it like breaking people's privacy without them knowing it in some kind of stalker-ish way?" Kate asked as she looked up at Sam who seemed to be out of words. "It's nice, though," she added as she looked down at the papers.

"Very nice," Dean nodded.

"Yeah. Okay. So it turns out Ian and Paul both got this same email telling them to report to HR," Sam started.

"In room fourteen forty-four," Kate finished as she read the information on the paper.

"HR's on seven," Dean said frowning his eyebrows.

"Exactly," Sam replied, his eyes glued to Dean who sighed before rubbing his lips and jaw.

"Should we go check this out?" She asked making the men look at her, a bit surprised.

"Like right now?" Sam asked her.

"No, I just…" She shrugged.

"It's getting late. We shouldn't…" Dean said as he looked down at his desk. Sam looked at him then back at Kate before returning his head to Dean who looked up at him.

"I am dying to check this out right now," Sam admitted.

"Right?" Dean said as they looked into each other's eyes.

* * *

><p>Dean glanced down at Kate, walking in between him and Sam. The three of them were walking down the hallway leading them to room 1444. Even though she was rather tall for a woman and looked very strong and confident, there was something about her that made him feel as though he shouldn't let her come along, as though he should protect her from getting hurt. Deep down, he had the impression to know she's been through a lot and he didn't want her to go through anything anymore. All he wanted was to send her back home where she'd be safe. And at the same time, he felt as if he wanted to keep her at his sides, not to protect her but to have her with him. He wanted her to be there for him and he had not a single idea why. He had met her just a few days ago, and here he was having those weird thoughts about her, and let's not talk about those sort of feelings he was going through whenever he was around her.<p>

Kate's head lifted towards him and he was almost astonished by the way her brown eyes sparkled when they met his gaze. The brown in her eyes was the most ordinary colour he had ever seen, and yet there was so much more to tell when he looked at her eyes. There seemed to be a lot of untold stories in there, a lot of pain and a lot of tender. And, somehow he had the feeling that even she had no idea of what her eyes were holding. Out of the blue, something crossed his mind, creating his brows to wrinkle.

"What?" She asked him as Sam glanced at them.

"Nothing," Dean replied shaking his head. "I just… I kinda realized I had a favourite colour," he sounded confused by himself and Sam couldn't help but let out a light chuckle.

"I suppose going to meet a potential ghost kinda messes with our thoughts now," Sam said as Kate turned her head to look at Dean who was quiet now.

"What is it?"

"Hmm?"

"Your favourite colour, what is it?" She asked him, her intense gaze staring at his whole face.

"Brown. It's brown," he replied as he looked away when a scream came down from room 1444, and the three of them hurried towards it without even thinking.

Once they were standing in front of the door, Sam tried opening it but it was locked. He looked at Kate and Dean.

"Just… I don't know… Kick it open!" Kate said when he looked at her. He turned around and kicked the door with so much force that it opened widely.

"Woah!" Dean exclaimed.

"Guys!" Kate shouted as she pointed at a shelf that was crashing a man on the floor. They all hurried over to lift the shelf off the man.

Suddenly, the old man that had appeared in the bathroom's mirror earlier, appeared behind Dean and flung him into the wall. Then, he shoved Kate over and did the same with Sam. Kate was surprised when her eyes landed on the spirit's hands as they started sparking a sort of lightning. Dean got up and grabbed a wrench that lied around, and walked quickly towards the old man. His instinct was telling him to do this. His instinct was making him walk, making him take this wrench. And it was his instinct too that made him swing the wrench at the old man. The old man dissipated before he could even touch the man they had found in here. The monitors on the shelves that were weirdly on ever since they got there, shut off abruptly around them. Kate stood up and started lifting the shelves so the man could scoot out from underneath. Dean and Sam quickly went to help her. Sam glanced up at Dean.

"How'd you know how to do that?" He asked him as he watched his face.

"I have no idea," Dean just said as he looked a bit shocked by himself as well.

* * *

><p>After the incident in room 1444, there was no way anyone of the trio was going to sleep tight and have sweet dreams that night. They were pretty much stuck in between a state of shock and a state of excitement, and all they knew was that the three of them had just experienced something that no one else would ever believe. They couldn't share that with anyone else; not that they wanted to share it with anyone else and be named crazy anyways. But, each of them felt sort of linked by what they had lived. This was the main reason why after leaving room 1444, Dean had suggested to go back to his place and talk about it. Sam and Kate had agreed, knowing far well that if not, they would simply spend the whole night at their own place trying to figure out what had happened until the sunrise.<p>

So here they were, that night, inside Dean Smith's apartment. Both Kate and Sam had realized after just a glimpse of the living room and the kitchen that Dean surely was a pretty wealthy man. The room where Sam and Kate were with Dean, looked exactly like his business suits: it was all very upper-class expensive looking and very unlikely both of them. Sure Kate was always wearing clothes that looked classy but half of them was a legacy of one of her deceased aunt and the other half wouldn't reach 200 dollars altogether. There was no doubt, she was a very relieved that they hadn't gone to her little studio down the not-so-rich neighbourhood.

"Holy crap, dude!" Dean exclaimed as he finished drinking his Master cleanse that seemed to taste horribly disgusting.

"Yeah," Sam shook his head, as he was standing next to the brunette whose arms were crossed over her chest while watching the fire place. "I could use a beer."

"I second that," Kate said raising her hand slowly, never looking away from the flames twisting around in the fireplace.

"Oh, sorry, guys. I'm on the Cleanse. I got rid of all the carbs in the house."

"And here I was hoping to get drunk so I could forget all that happened," Kate mumbled to herself. Sam looked down at her as he heard her, and made a little nod of the head to himself. After all, he was hoping the same.

"Hey. How the hell did you know that ghosts are scared of wrenches?" Sam asked as he looked up at Dean who came back from the fridge with two water bottles. He handed one to Sam and one to Kate who turned around to look at the two men.

"Crazy, right?" Dean said as he glanced at Kate while she drank a long sip of water before he turned to look at the man sitting on the back of the couch. "And nice job kicking that door too. That was very Jet Li. What are you, like a black belt or something?"

"No. I have no clue how I did that," Sam replied as Kate bent down to unclasp her high heels.

"It's okay with you if I put those off?" She asked looking up at Dean who looked down at her feet and nodded. She took them off and stood there barefoot, making Dean look a bit pensive. He felt as if he had already seen her barefoot, which was of course impossible. Once again, he shook away that stupid, irrational and strange feeling.

"It's like... You and I we've done this before, Dean" Sam said as Kate grabbed her heels and walked to a wall next to the kitchen area, and put them down, right against it.

"What do you mean, before?" Kate asked as she looked at the tall young man.

"Like Shirley MacLaine before?" Dean asked, confused.

"No. I-I just can't shake this feeling like I-like I don't belong here. You know? Like I should do something more than sit in a cubicle," Sam admitted as he stood up and walked towards a white wall column and stood against the wall. Kate stood in the middle, her arms folded over her chest as she watched him with full attention.

"I think most people who work in a cubicle feel that same way," Dean said as he walked towards his couch and sat down on the edge of it.

"No. Well, look, it's more than that. Like, I don't like my job. I don't like this town. I don't like my clothes. I don't like my own last name," Sam explained before he waved his hand towards Kate. "Even Kate doesn't like any of these things!"

"What do you mean?" Dean asked as he turned his head towards the brunette.

"He's right… I don't like this town, this company, and gosh even those heels they seem higher than anything I'd ever put on!"

"You've been here for what? A week? You're just homesick-" Dean started.

"She's not homesick," Sam cut him off and Dean glanced at him before laying his green eyes on Kate who moved towards his round table, just two feet away from the back of his couch. She leaned on the table and looked up at him.

"He's right, I'm not homesick… I just feel kinda out of place. As if I'm not supposed to be here… As if I don't belong here," she confessed and Dean eyed her up and down quickly, trying to analyse her and to understand her.

"I feel the same…" Sam said as he turned his gaze towards Dean. "I don't know how else to explain it, except that...it feels like I should be doing something else. There's just something in my blood. Like I was destined for something different. What about you? You ever feel that way?" Dean looked down at the floor before lifting his head to look at Kate, and then settled his gaze on the tall man.

"I don't believe in destiny," he replied with a light smirk. "I do believe in dealing with what's right in front of us, though."

"Alright, so, what do we do now?" Sam asked.

"We do what I do best, Sammy," Dean replied as he stood up and walked towards him. "Research."

"Okay," Sam replied as Kate nodded. "Did you just call me Sammy?"

"Did I?"

"I think you did… Yeah," Sam said before he scrunched his whole face, and almost sternly continued. "Don't."

"Sorry," Dean replied before walking away. Kate watched Sam's face.

"What?" He asked her.

"Is that weird that it sounded kinda right when he said it?" Kate asked him in almost a whisper.

"You want me to call you with a nickname and see if that weirdly sounds right?" He told her as he walked towards his bag. "I don't like when people call me Sammy. I'm not a 12 year old chubby boy anymore." Kate couldn't help the little giggle as she followed him to grab her bag, laying right next to his.

"Why are you giggling, _Katie_?" He said emphasizing the nickname. She looked up at him and suddenly a wave of images crossed her mind at the speed of light. Him calling her Katie as he put off some grocery stuff, an old man with a cap and a beard calling her Katie, him calling her Katie as he bent down to hug her while wearing a sort of khaki janitor uniform.

"Hey, Kate! You're alright?" He asked her as he noticed the deep expression on her face. She looked up at him and nodded her head slowly.

"Sorry, I-I kinda zoned out," she replied before reaching for her bag, and once again choosing to not share those weird flashes of images to anyone.

* * *

><p>Sam, Dean and Kate had been researching for almost an hour now. The problem when you're looking for something on the internet, that is about ghosts and creatures which are not supposed to exist, it is that you can end up on many hoax websites. Sometimes, it's easy to distinct the hoax ones from the real ones, other times it's much harder. By now, Kate was going crazy as she kept on reading some supposedly true testimonies. Sitting next to Sam at the round table near the couch, she often threw glances towards Dean who was sitting on his own at a corner desk. He looked deeply focused on his laptop and she realized that not only was he certainly good at researching as he said so himself, but he must really like it too. However, she had the deep impression that he wasn't the kind of guy to be so happy and willing to research.<p>

"Oh, jackpot!" He exclaimed and Kate watched as his face seemed to light up. His green eyes were glued to whatever was on his laptop' screen.

"What you got?" Sam asked as they both stared at Dean.

"I just found the best site ever. Real, actual ghost hunters," Dean told them as he glanced at them. Kate rose her eyebrows before Sam and she went over to see.

"These guys are genius. Check it out," Dean said while Kate and Sam leaned down at each side of his chair.

"Instructional videos?" Kate read in a confused tone as her eyes browsed at the 'Ghostfacers' website. "It doesn't really look serious-"

"Just check this out," Dean interrupted her as he clicked a couple of times, and pulled up a video with two men wearing white lab coats. The three of them stayed silent as they watched with intention.

When the introduction video was over, Dean looked over at Sam and Kate, trying to see if they were as impressed and convinced as he was. However the slight frown on Sam's face and the way Kate brought one hand up and pinched the bridge of her nose, told him that the video had quite a different impact on them than on him.

"You seriously think this is real? I mean they look like guys fooling around, to me," the brunette said as she glanced down at Dean.

"You haven't seen it all," Dean replied as Sam walked to get his laptop.

"Most of all, you haven't seen _this_, any of you," Sam said as he put down his laptop, next to Dean's, and Kate moved a bit to see what he was showing them. Her fingers trailed over Dean's shoulders, barely touching him but enough to send a shiver down his spin. He didn't move nor say anything since he knew she wasn't doing it on purpose; she was only trying to lean her hands on the back of his chair.

"That's him," Kate exclaimed as her eyes landed on the picture of an article about the death of the founder of the Sandover Company. "That's the ghost."

"P. T. Sandover. Died 1916. Devoted his life to his work. No wife, no kids," Sam said as Kate skimmed the article text visible next to the picture.

"Used to say he was the company, and his very blood pumped through the building," Sam told them as he looked up at Kate and then down at Dean still sitting down on his chair.

"Wow, okay. So a slight workaholic," Kate said nodding.

"Maybe he's still here, you know, watching over the company, even killing for it," Dean suggested as Kate looked down at his gelled hair while he threw a glance at Sam.

"Plus, turns out this isn't the first time people started killing themselves in the building. 1929," Sam explained.

"Yeah, but lots of guys jumped off lots of high rises that year," she said as she took a few steps back and walked towards the table where she left her water bottle.

"How many companies had seventeen suicides?" Sam said as he looked over at her.

"Phew. Okay, so P. T. Sandover, protector of the company. His ghost wakes up and becomes active during times of grave economic distress," Dean said as Kate drank a sip of water and put it back down on the table.

"Well, I mean, the worst times we've seen since the Great Depression-" Sam started as Kate pulled at the hair tie keeping her hair tightly up in this ponytail.

"Are now," she finished his sentence. Dean and Sam watched her as she pulled her hand away and her straightened brown hair fell all around her face, reaching at the mid-section of her arms, above her elbows. She ran her fingers through it and looked up at them. Dean cleared his throat as he looked down at Sam's laptop.

"Yeah, now sucks. My portfolio's in the sewer. I don't even wanna talk about it," he said while Kate walked towards them.

"So Sandover's helping the bottom line-" Kate said as she was now standing at Sam's side.

"By zapping some model employees," Dean finished before looking up at her. She looked much younger and less severe and professional with her brown hair casually untied around her creamy white face. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but frown. Something felt wrong about her hair though, but he couldn't point a finger at it.

"Yeah. I mean, Ian and Paul. It was like he turned them into different people," Sam said and Kate rested her hand gently on Sam's arm as she looked up at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't even tell you how sorry I am… About Ian especially," she told him softly. He looked at her with a gentle smile of appreciation.

"Yeah," Dean just said before coughing lightly. "They were turned into perfect worker bees. So devoted to the company that they would commit hara-kara if they failed it."

"Hara-_kiri_," Kate corrected him making his gaze look up into hers.

"Anyways, there's one more interesting fact," Sam said as Kate pulled her hand away from him and leaned against the table. "The building wasn't always that high. Used to be fourteen floors. And the room where the ghost attacked, fourteen forty-four? Once upon a time, that was the old man's office."

"We gotta learn how to kill it before it does even more damage," Dean said as Kate glanced at him.

"How?" Sam asked and Dean sighed as he nodded his head to his laptop. Kate glanced at Sam who looked down at her, and gave a slight shrug of agreement. She rolled her eyes, agreeing to watch those videos too.

Once Sam and Kate settled a chair at each side of Dean, they started watching a video quietly. She tried her best to not judge the website Dean had found and hoped that it wasn't going to be a stupid waste of time.

"_Using special ghost-hunting weapons,"_ the guy called Harry said after Ed said you had to kill it.

"_First, salt. It's like acid to ghosts," _that Ed guy continued.

"_Burny acid."_

"_Not LSD." _Kate glanced at the two men on her right, trying to make some eye contact with one of them to ask them if they actually heard what was being said. But they were completely focused on the video.

"_No. It's a bad trip for ghosts. Next up, iron." _That caught her attention back.

"That's why the wrench worked," Sam said as he pointed at the screen. Dean nodded his head and Kate decided to focus more on that video that turned out to be not that much of a stupid waste of time.

"_Pure power in your hand,"_ Ed explained.

"_Dissipates ghosts instantly." _That reminded Kate of the way the ghost had disappeared after Dean had hit him.

"_Next little trick. We learned this from those useless douchebags-"_

"_That we hate,"_ Harry continued.

"_The Winchesters,"_ Ed finished. Kate frowned at the name, it sounded very familiar and when she glanced at Dean and Sam, she felt as if this was connected to them. However, just like those sort of flashbacks, she was unable to know why or how it crossed her mind.

"_Gun."_

"_Shotgun shell. Pack it up with fresh rock salt."_

"_Very effective."_

"_Very effective,"_ Ed repeated his partner's words.

"_Winchesters still suck ass, though,"_ Harry claimed.

"_Affirmative. Suckage major." _Kate glanced at Sam and Dean, this feeling of a link between this name and those men, still expanding in her guts. Dean Smith and Sam Wesson… Dean had told her that he felt as if his last name was too weird, and Sam had confessed that he didn't like his own last name earlier. And she's always felt like her last name didn't fit either. Something was really wrong…

* * *

><p>After getting ready to find the rest of the DNA left from P.T. Sandover in the building, and bringing everything possible to defend themselves according to those Ghostfacers guys, Sam, Dean and Kate walked to their work building late that night. The young woman had put on her flat boots before they left Dean's apartment, and she had tied her up in a messy bun, ready to do what was taught to them in those videos. She wasn't sure it would work, but staying confident and determined, was the best way for her to not freak out. If she did, Sam and Dean would certainly just tell her to go back home. And that was something she didn't want to do. Strangely enough, deep down she felt as though what they were going to do was what they were supposed to do. Walking with them towards a supernatural creature, in order to save lives, gave her a better feeling than anything else she's done her whole life. All of those office jobs, as a temp or an assistant, they all seemed so worthless comparing to what she was going to do with them right then.<p>

As they walked into the elevator, Dean turned to Kate and Sam.

"Set your cell phones to walkie-talkie in case we get separated," Dean told them as the three of them got their phones out and pressed a few buttons to get the settling done.

"How the hell are we gonna find some ancient speck of DNA in a skyscraper?" Kate asked as she looked up at Dean's intense green eyes.

"Well, that creepy storeroom used to be Sandover's office, right?" He said as he pressed button 14.

"We'll start there," Sam said nodding his head.

* * *

><p>Dean and Kate were looking through the things stored in 1444 on one side while Sam was riffling through the desk on the other side of the office. Kate went behind some shelves and started searching there. When she looked up, her brown eyes met Dean's green wasn't trying to pretend as if their gazes met by chance as he never broke the eye contact. He looked right into her eyes, as though he was trying to see through them.<p>

"What?" She asked him and he glanced at Sam behind before walking around the shelves to stand right next to her. Completely puzzled by him, she turned her head towards him, and looked up at him questioning him with her eyes.

"Your hair…" He whispered. She was even more puzzled by that answer.

"What-" She started to ask when Dean swiftly reached Kate's forearm and pulled her towards him against the wall, in order to be out of sight. One hand on her lips and the other holding her forearm. She was going to push him away when she heard the unknown voice speaking.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Nothing. I just-I," Sam stuttered. Kate's face was buried against Dean's chest. She couldn't see what was happening, but she kept still against Dean. She wasn't stupid and had quickly grasped the situation. One of the guards had caught them, or at least Sam. She put her hand on the one he was holding against her lips and he understood that she wanted to pull it away so he simply slid it away. One of his hands was still holding on her forearm while the other landed on her lower back.

"Come with me," the guard told Sam as Kate inhaled Dean's perfume. Some mix between mint and wood, it wasn't a bad scent at all, but somehow Kate thought he had to smell something else. Something more like a musk of leather, oil motor and whisky; this made Kate even more confused by herself and her thoughts. When they heard the door slamming close, Kate looked up at Dean, pulling her head slightly away from his chest.

"Let's wait just a couple of seconds, just in case," Dean whispered to her and she looked down at his hand around her forearm before looking up at him as an image of him reaching for her hand crossed her mind. His fingers wrapped around her hand as he said to her those few words… "Physical contact…I think that as long as we keep touching each other, we'll travel together."

"Alright," Dean said as he let go of her hand. "I think they're gone," he told her as she looked up at him, with an almost dumbfound expression on her face. This time the image that crossed her mind seemed too real to be a result of her imagination. "Hey? You're okay?" She nodded slowly and chased away this disturbing thought she just had. She felt the need to ask him something pretty irrelevant all of sudden.

"What were you gonna say about my hair?"

"We'll talk about this later, okay?" He told her before he walked towards a few drawers near the desk Sam was looking through. She shook her head and forced herself to focus on the task in their hands before a disaster happened.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Kate and Dean were looking at the Sandover history display model right next to the elevator, waiting for Sam to meet them there after he washed his face a bit from all the blood he claimed to be covered in. The Sandover history display they were looking at, was the one they had been passing by everyday without having a single clue that something in there caused deaths around in the building. When Sam walked to them, they both grimaced at the stains of blood on his yellow shirt. Kate was quiet as she looked at the man's face while Dean just said what was on his mind right then.<p>

"Whoa. That's a lot of blood."

"Yeah, I know," Sam replied and Kate felt bad for Sam to have witnessed such a terrible death.

"Right," Dean said before swallowing. He pointed to the glass case in the history display. "So, uh, in there."

"P.T Sandover's gloves," Kate said as Sam looked at the pair of gloves exposed in there.

"It was just here," Sam whispered for himself. Kate nodded.

"And how much you wanna bet there's a little smidge of DNA in there? You know, like a fingernail clipping or a hair or two? Something," Dean told him.

"So you're ready?" Sam said as he looked back and forth at Dean and Kate.

"I have no idea," Kate replied as Dean shook his head, saying without speaking a word that he felt the same way.

"Me neither," Sam admitted.

"But, we gotta do what we gotta do," Kate told them as she walked towards the big sport bag and put it down in between the three of them. Sam and Dean looked at her and sighed in sync as they all crouched down around the bag. Each of them took an iron poker, and Sam took a container of salt.

"Go for it," Sam said to Dean who glanced at Kate.

"Ladies first," he told her and she rose her eyebrows.

"Right, that's this moment guys always choose to be such gentlemen" she mumbled before smashing the glass with the iron poker. She tried to shove the broken pieces of glass away when suddenly the room seemed to get colder. She looked up and the ghost of Sandover was here. She didn't have the time to react an inch of her body when he flung her into a wall and did the same to Sam and Dean.

"Oh. Nice!" She heard Dean say to Sam as she looked up and noticed the ghost wasn't there anymore. She reached for her right cheek as it was bleeding from hitting the edge of the wall. Her eyes looked over at Dean when she noticed the ghost reappearing behind him.

"Dean!" She shouted as she threw the poker at him. He grabbed it easily and turned around before swinging it through the ghost who, once again dissipated in the air.

"Nice catch," she remarked to him.

"Right?" He replied with a smile as he looked down at the poker in his hand, feeling very impressed by himself. Sam quickly got up and went over to pick up the other poker. The ghost appeared right between Sam and Dean who simultaneously hit him with the pokers. The ghost disappeared again as Kate stood up looking at them.

"Wow, that was-" She started when the ghost appeared in front of her but quickly dissipated as Dean swung the poker at him. The ghost started to appear a few times after getting dissipated by the pokers' swings as Kate quickly went over the poker Dean had dropped when the ghost had flung him against another wall. The ghost threw Sam over a wall, his back colliding with a lamp hard before he threw Dean into the opposite wall. Kate gripped her poker tighter ready to hit him with it but he abruptly disappeared. She frowned when she saw him appearing right in front of Dean. His hand started to spark as he reached for Dean. Kate instinctively grabbed the gloves and threw them at Sam since she knew he had a lighter on him, unlike her. He grabbed them easily and pulled out his lighter. The gloves quickly caught fire, Kate turned her head and looked over at Sandover; he was burning too. The sight was in the same time, beautiful and terrible. The spirit burned into nothing as Sam dropped the burning gloves.

Kate's eyes landed on Dean's almost scared, but completely puzzled face as he looked around, trying without doubt to see if the ghost was going to reappear out of nowhere.

"That was amazing," Sam exclaimed making Kate look up at him.

"Right? Right?" Dean said, his voice sounding as excited as Sam's. She couldn't help but let out a light chuckle at their reactions.

* * *

><p>Once it was all done, they were all in Dean's office. Kate sitting on the edge of the man's desk, Sam sitting at her left as Dean walked towards her with a first-aid kit.<p>

"Guys, I gotta tell you, I've never had so much fun in my life," Dean said as he opened the kit, standing right in front of the brunette.

"Me neither," Sam replied as Dean handed Kate a gauze pad and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

"Maybe you want me to-" He started to say pointing at her cheek.

"No, I'm fine," she interrupted him, but seeing as he was still holding the two items towards, she sighed and took them.

"Was a hell of a workout too, wasn't it?" Dean chuckled as he took out two other gauze pad.

"We should keep doing this," Sam said making Kate look at him as she finished pouring some of hydrogen peroxide on the gauze pad.

"I know," Dean replied as he handed Sam a gauze pad and kept one for him. Sam grabbed it as Dean glanced at Kate who put the bottle down behind her before pressing the pad on the slight cheek cut.

"I mean it. There gotta be other ghosts out there," Sam said as he stared at Dean, standing right in front of them. "We could help a lot of people."

"Right, we'd be like the Ghostfacers," Dean scoffed.

"No, really. I mean, for real," Sam explained in a serious tone. Kate turned her head to look at him.

"What? Like, quit our jobs and hit the road?" She asked him and he shifted slightly to look at her.

"Exactly," he told her, his blue-ish hazel eyes looking right into her brown eyes.

"How would we live?" Dean asked as Sam turned his head towards him.

"Uh..."

"You gotta be kidding me. How would we get by?" Dean said as he pulled the gauze pad away from his face. "With stolen credit cards? Huh? Eating diner food drenched in saturated fats? Sharing a crap motel room every night?"

"That's all just details," Sam told him as Kate frowned her eyebrows looking back and forth at the interaction.

"Details are everything. You don't wanna go fighting ghosts without any health insurance," Dean said to Sam who looked down.

"Alright. Um. Confession," Sam said, his eyes locked to the floor.

"What?" Dean asked, watching Sam who lifted his head while Kate looked down at her feet.

"Remember those dreams I told you about with the ghosts?"

"Yeah?"

"I was fighting them."

"Okay," Dean just said before Sam continued.

"With you, Dean," Sam said making the man in the blue shirt furrow his brow slightly. "We were these, like, hunters, and we were friends. More like brothers, really… And I had a few dreams about you too, Kate." The brunette turned her head towards Sam. "I mean, what if that's who we really are? I mean, you saw us back there, working together. The ghost was scrambling people's brains. What if it scrambled ours?"

"That's insane," Dean replied as he circled his desk and went to lean down against a table right in front of his large window.

"Is it? Think about it for just one second. What if we think this is our life, but it's not?" Sam told him as he turned around to look at him.

"Hey, man, the ghost is dead and we're still standing. I mean, I'm sorry, but-"

"Look," Sam cut Dean off as he stood up and spun around to face the other man. Kate glanced up at him and felt a bit intimated by his height as he continued with frustration. "All I know is this isn't who we're supposed to be."

"No. I'm Dean Smith, okay? Director of Sales and Marketing. I went to Stanford. My father's name is Bob, my mother's name is Ellen, and my sister's name is Jo."

"When was the last time you talked to them?" Sam asked and Kate's eyes looked away as she tried to remember when the last time she talked to her own family was. "To any of them?"

"Okay, you're upset." Dean replied as Kate realized that she couldn't remember talking to any of her relatives for as long as she could remember. And this was not normal at all. "You're upset and confused-"

"Yeah, 'cause I only moved here 'cause I just broke up with my fiancée, Madison. But I called her number and I got a damn animal hospital," Sam interrupted him.

"Okay. What are you saying?" Dean asked and Kate decided to speak now.

"I've had weird dreams too."

"What?" Sam asked as Dean looked down at the woman who was giving him her back.

"I've had weird dreams about you two, and two other men with blue eyes and…" She sighed as she stood up and turned around so that she could face both men. "And there were weird creatures in a few of them…"

"Oh no, not you too," Dean sighed as he watched her face.

"I'm sorry, but it's true," she said as she glanced at Sam who was only staring at her. "I mean I got this feeling too, you know? As if everything around us isn't what it's supposed to be. As if we're not supposed to do any of that… I mean, I always feel like my life isn't my life and I don't remember the last time I talked to any members of my family," she confessed. "And so do you, Dean."

"No… Look, I've been busy with my new promotion but I talk to my family at least once a month. Actually, tomorrow is the day I'll call them to check on them," Dean replied.

"Is it?" Sam said. Dean frowned his eyebrows making soft wrinkle appear at the corners of his eyes. He looked back and forth at Sam and at Kate.

"Are you-are you trying to say that my family isn't real? Huh? That we've been injected with fake memories? Come on."

"All I know is, I got this feeling in my gut," Sam replied. "And I know—I know that deep down, you gotta be feeling it too, Dean. We're supposed to be something else. You're not just some corporate douchebag. This isn't you. I know you."

"Know me?" Dean told him as he fixed at him. "You don't know me, pal," he turned his head slightly towards Kate. "Neither do you... You should go. Both of you."

Kate and Sam silently grabbed their bags and coats resting on a chair and walked out.

* * *

><p>When they reached the elevator, Kate gently pressed the button before Sam let out a long sigh, remembering why the elevator wouldn't come up.<p>

"It's stuck… With the guard's body," he said in a little voice. She looked up at him and felt her chest tighten at the sad and pained expression all over his face.

"Do you think we should call someone for the, um, you know… The body?" She asked in a very little and hesitant voice. He shook his head, without looking at her as he pulled up the strap of his bag and threw his jacket over his shoulder.

"I've already programmed a deletion of everything that the security cameras have filmed ever since we got in here, so let's leave the body for everyone to find out tomorrow morning," he replied in a an unenthusiastic tone before he turned around to walk towards the staircase.

"Sam-"

"Kate," he cut her off as he stopped and turned around. "Why didn't you say anything earlier? Why did you keep quiet about it until now?"

"I-I was afraid you'd say I'm making everything up," she replied.

"Yeah, well what you just did back there, surely made it all sound true," he told her before shaking his head. "Goodnight," he said as he spun around and walked away.

She watched him leave before she pulled out her phone and decided to call her father. She put the phone against her ear and waited as it rang three times before the phone was picked up.

"Dad?" She said.

"My sweet little Katie, don't tell me you forgot that your dear daddy is dead?" A voice said and she frowned as she recognized this voice.

"Mr. Adler?" She asked as a rather manic laugh appeared on the other end of the line confusing her.

All of sudden, she wasn't standing in front of the elevator anymore. She was standing in room full of fancy decoration, paintings and golden chairs. She spun on herself as her eyes travelled all around the familiar room. Her hands started to shake as memories of that room resurfaced. The phone in her hand dropped on the floor, quickly followed by the coat and bag she was carrying on her forearm. She looked down at her hands and a scar on the back of her left hand appeared along with a memory. This scar was born on her second hunt with Matthew… She turned her hands over and looked at her palms. Four thin faded scars appeared on each palm. Those were the ones made by her own fingernails when she was trying to be strong enough to stop Dean from torturing Alastair... She realized slowly why these scars had magically disappeared along with her memories. It was all a setup…

"God." This was the only word that escaped her lips in a shaky whisper as she understood what could have made this whole setup.

"Practically," a too familiar voice said making her look up. Here was standing the angel she hated the most. "Long time no see, huh?" He grinned at her but she stood still and speechless. "Cat got your tongue? It's alright, though, it will make you listen carefully to me," he said as he eyed her up and down before chuckling. "You know, I've been waiting to see you again ever since that little trip you offered me so nicely."

"You must have liked it since you took so long to come back," she replied sarcastically. He pushed his tongue against the inside of one of his cheeks before he shook his head.

"I'd rather you keep quiet," he said bringing his hand up and spinning his fingers in the air. A weird itchy feeling appeared in her throat. She coughed and rubbed her neck with one hand, her eyebrows frowned at the unpleasant sensation inside her throat. "Yeah, I just kinda froze your vocal cords, so they can't really work now. And if you really wanna talk you'll have to force so much that it might break those cords of yours. And well, you'll certainly get a lot of blood in there. From what I've already seen it's a very ugly thing." She looked at him, horrified as he spoke casually.

"Now, that I have your full attention. I'll let you know that I've been back from that trip of yours quicker than you need to know. But the reason why I didn't want to invite you over wasn't because you tried for days to deprive yourself to sleep, naah. I mean come on, I could have just popped up wherever you were and taken you with me," he walked towards her and snapped his fingers making the items scattered on the floor around her, disappear. "I could have found you and taken you with me to go through all of Dean's sweet memories of Hell. Or I could have thrown you into Heaven's prison in which I would have guaranteed you the best tortures ever created." He finished his sentence by whispering into her ear. She bit on her tongue as she took a deep breath through her nostrils. Her eyes glued on the wall across from her.

"But you know what, Kate? I figured you out," he exclaimed as he took a few steps back and stared at her face. "I figured you out!" She frowned slightly, as she wondered what he was talking about. "You are just like them. It may be the reason why you've been brought in our universe actually. I mean, alright it's true that having a human with a soul and a vessel as powerful as yours, can really be to our advantage in this upcoming war. And this is the first reason why I asked your help if you remember well." Zachariah sighed as he gave her a little smile. "Those Winchester boys are just as stubborn as you are, but we need them. Well, actually we specifically need Dean to be motivated." Kate clenched her fists and opened her lips. She tried to speak but stopped when a terrible pain irrupted in her throat. "Yeah, better no try speaking for now," he told her shaking his head.

"But, I know what you were gonna say. 'Leave Dean alone… I won't push him onto doing anything anymore… You can torture me, I don't care… My daddy's dead anyways, so you can't blackmail me' blahblahblah," he said impersonating a ridiculous female voice as he held his hands up and shook them in the air. She glared at him as he laughed, and then cleared his throat, looking over at her with a smile. "But that's what I was gonna say. _I figured you out._ You won't do anything if we torture you. You won't do anything if we give you back what you've lost. And I could just erase all of your memories and have a new start with you. Play nice with you, convince you that you're the chosen one, or that your father can be saved, on and on and on. I could erase your memory until you finally do what I tell you. But, you won't do anything. And you know why? Because you are just like Sam and Dean. You can bear it all, as long as the ones you care about are alright." Kate's eyes slightly widened as she understood what he was gonna do.

"Oh yeah, you got it now, don't you?" He told her with a smirk. "As long as the ones you care about are alright, you will never do anything you're told. Even if it's to save this world from Lucifer himself." He exhaled a long sigh and sat down on the long couch right behind him, his eyes never leaving her. "So, here is how it's going to happen. The only motivation you'll get from us is this simple knowledge that if you do one thing wrong, someone you care about will suffer. It can be anyone… Dean, Sam, Matt, or even that old drunk Bobby. Anyone can live what you've lived when you showed disobedience, or relive in Dean's case," he couldn't help but chuckle at his own sick joke. "What do you think about that?" He asked her before he rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, I forgot." He spun one finger in the air and the sensation in her throat vanished. "So, now you can come back with a snarky comment you've been dying to say, I'm sure."

"Don't," she begged in a whisper as she stared at him. "Please don't do that."

"But, I have to. You didn't give me any choice, Kate."

"I promise to do what I'm told now, I-I promise," she told him as tears formed in her eyes.

"I would like to believe that," he told her as he stood up. "But, Kate, I know you now. You betrayed Heaven, you betrayed God himself by rebelling against me last time. And, I don't know about your universe, but here you don't get to do any of that without facing the consequences."

"Why?" She let out in a breath. "Why are you doing this? You don't need me… I'm not in any of your outlines, you said it yourself."

"And I also said that you were a joker in our game, and we need a joker or this whole planet will just burst into flames as Lucifer will walk on it. And, you may have not thought about it that much and that well, but if we lose that war because we don't have any good cards and we don't even have a joker, then this world counting Dean, his brother, Bobby, Rufus and that Matt, and all the people you've met here, they'll all burn as well," he replied and she licked her lips before pressing them together as she nodded. A tear left each of her eyes as she looked away. "Don't cry, come on! It's for the greater good."

"Yeah."

"I'm happy you understand, because it would really sadden me to have to see any of those good people go through what you've been through those terrible memories of Hell," he sighed shaking his head. He continued with a much sterner voice. "But you have to keep in mind that if you tell one word about our meetings, one single word and those people you care about and yourself will get the worst." Kate gulped as she watched his face which relaxed after a couple of seconds. "So, just do your job, after all you like to be useful, huh?" He grinned at her.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Author's note:<strong>

**Hello dear readers! I truly hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas, Pancha Ganapati, Hanukkah or whatever else you celebrate:)**

**So what did you guys think of that new chapter? I'm still very unsure of it… I feel like it's a filer and needs so much improvement, and I just hate this feeling!**

**I'm aware that there wasn't too much of progression in it, and the slightest progresses I tried to make, I did it so horribly… I know that apart from my take on the episode, the beginning of this chapter and its ending are both very rushed. I gotta say that for the first part I wanted it to seem rushed so that you can have the impression of time moving on and Kate changing a bit as she is driven by her fear of facing Dean after what happened with Alastair and of facing Zachariah after casting him away. I wanted you to have just a glimpse of her getting into her first hunts with Matt, without giving you too much information to increase the feeling of time passing by, you know? But, I guess I didn't do it very well and that's why I plan to make it up later. As for the second part, I didn't want Zachariah's return to be this rushed, but my muse has been away for quite some time now and she doesn't seem to wanna come back… So yeah, I'm truly sorry if you didn't enjoy this chapter very much and if there wasn't too much progression.**

**I promise that next chapter will be updated in two days upmost, and it will contain much more interesting things going on ;)**

**Thank you very much for taking time to read my story, it keeps me very happy and touched:)**

**Much love to everyone out there,**

**A.**


	16. Chapter 16

_**Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.**_

_**A few days later.**_

After reappearing out of nowhere in Matthew's motel room, Kaitlin Anderson had found it really hard to explain to him the whole situation without telling him too much. Of course, the hunter had freaked out for an hour when he woke up and found her in the middle of his room while he had spent days looking for her. When he calmed down, he told her that Bobby had called him to say that the Winchesters had gone MIA for days too, which made Kate understand that Zachariah had really put off this whole scenery for only the three of them. The blue-eyed hunter had sounded surprised when he had said that Bobby told him about the angels and that Dean Winchester was the chosen one to save the world too. However, Matt's real concern and confusion laid on her and the reason of her being taken away by the angels too. This had reminded her that he was still unaware of her real reason at Bobby's place in the first hand. But here is the thing: she was certain that he knew she wasn't telling him the entire truth about herself; she could see it in the ways he looked at her and acted around her sometimes. And, she hated that. Especially since he had been so nice, helpful and patient with her and her training.

As much as it was hard to keep pretending to just be Bobby's niece with Matt, it was even harder to not being able to tell anyone else about her meetings with the angels and what Heaven seemed to want so much from her. As a matter of fact, Bobby and the Winchesters had expressed their confusion about it on several times. Above all else, the fact that Heaven had claimed she was to be protected more than once, and then let her be in dangerous and life-threatening situations without helping her in any way, had gotten them entirely puzzled and suspicious of Heaven's wishes.

There was so much things Kate wished she could tell everyone around her. All of those secrets were starting to eat her from the inside, and she couldn't help but wonder what she had done wrong to deserve any of those things. Truth be told, none of those people she had met in this universe seemed to deserve any of this pain and tough life. They deserved to be safe and happy. And the fact that back in December, she had played a role in preventing Dean from feeling any of those ways, made her feel so shameful of herself that she had no idea how to complete the mission Zachariah had given her. Nonetheless, now that he had threatened to torture the ones she cared about if she ever disobeyed him, she had no other choice but to do what she was told. She couldn't run away anymore now.

And that was the actual reason of her walking down the snow covered tiny alley in between those smashed old cars in Bobby Singer' salvage yard now.

Somehow, she had succeeded on convincing Matt to drop her off just outside Bobby' salvage yard. She really needed to be on her own before seeing Bobby again. Especially after spending a month avoiding the Winchesters completely and not getting back at Bobby's house while the old man kept on telling her to do this on the phone. This whole time before getting kidnapped by Zachariah to get her entire memory erased so she could be some employee named Kate Andrew at the Sandover Company, she had been going literally crazy. Trying so hard to avoid facing the consequences of her actions – or in other words: to avoid facing the man she had broken because she was being completely selfish – and trying so desperately to keep herself busy in between hunting with Matt and praying for God to keep Zachariah away from her, had been the main occupations that drove her crazy. What kept her going was adrenaline and caffeine. But, when Matt had decided that almost a whole week without sleeping was too much, he had started taking the matters in hands. At first, he had made her pass out with some technique of his fingers, and aside from being very mad at him for doing this to her once she woke up, an entire pleasing shock had risen in her. There hadn't been any nightmares that time at all; just some weird dreams but nothing too big of a deal. And more importantly, there hadn't been any angel at all. The following nights she had been hesitant on sleeping though, fearing that Zachariah would appear then. But Matt had slipped a few sleeping pills in her soda a couple of times before she came to the conclusion that Zachariah wasn't coming back.

During that whole time before this angel actually reappeared in her life, she had been feeling so shameful and afraid that she hadn't had the slightest strength to face either Bobby either the Winchester brothers. However, she had told Bobby before leaving his house; she hadn't been very precise but still, she had told him. She had confessed to him that she wouldn't be able to face them after what had happened with Alastair, and she needed to get away from them. But, now that Zachariah had reappeared and had made everything perfectly clear, she had no other choice but to face them all again. She had to suck it all up and be strong.

Pulling her hands out of her parka coat, she took off the strap of her duffle bag from around one shoulder and put it down with one hand while the other clung onto one strap of her back bag. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door, very slightly after pulling open the screen door. She pressed her lips together, very tightly before knocking louder. She opened her mouth and took another deep breath as she looked down at her feet. There wasn't much time in between the door opening and the familiar rough voice of Bobby Singer speaking up.

"You're in so much troubles young lady."

"I wasn't expecting any less," she replied in a little voice as she lifted her head and looked at the bearded man with a trucker's hat like always. His eyes scanned her face and there was no denying in what Matt had told him on the phone: she didn't look good at all. There were slight dark shadows under her brown eyes, a faded scar above her left eyebrow, and a heartbreaking expression was written all over her facial features.

"God, Katie, what happened to you?" Bobby asked in a gentle voice, his eyebrows frowning softly in concern.

"I-" She started when she got a lump in her throat. Seeing this old man and the genuine concern in his blue eyes made her realize even more how truly she cared about him. She's known him for just three months or so, and still she knew she could give her own life to save this old man who had been so good to her. She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes as she continued in almost a whisper. "Can I come back here?"

"That's what I've been trying to make you do for weeks, kiddo," he replied trying to buck her up a little bit.

"I'm so sorry," she said looking away as she felt ashamed to have behaved childishly and almost ungratefully when she went away with Matt.

"Hey," he said tilting his head so it could be right in her eye line. She looked at him and he gave her a gentle smile. "There's nothing to be sorry of, Katie. Come here," he said as he opened his arms and she slowly took the step separating them, letting him wrap his arms around her in a fatherly like comfort. "It's okay, kiddo, everything's okay," he whispered to her as he hugged her tighter when he felt her fingers clenching on his plaid shirt.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.<strong>_

_**Four days later.**_

There wasn't any better way for Kate to get her colour back than spending a couple of days at Bobby Singer's house. After the second day, she already looked better and felt a lot better as well. Bobby had been so careful to make sure she'd get better very soon, that the first day he had neglected his personal work connected to the breaking seals and other hunters' cases. Kate had found it absolutely sweet of him, but on the second day she had insisted he would stop mothering her that much. It's not that she didn't like having her food brought to her while she was in bed, or that she didn't like having Bobby telling her stories of his old life before his whole life changed; but she didn't want to feel guilty of preventing Bobby from helping saving the world.

As a matter of fact, that was something she thought about a lot since her return at his house. The mess in his living room was completely back, as maps, books, parchments, newspapers and other papers were all scattered all around the room. And with what Kate had glimpsed a bit at, there was no doubt that Bobby was very determined in finding how to stop all those seals from breaking. Besides, he had told her that he had sent hunters to every single coordinate she had given him and that all those seals had been stopped. He had sounded very happy and proud to know there were some victories in this endless chaos after all. He had also told her that he had found a couple of seals on his own too, but one of them had already been broken. However, he had emphasised the fact that it had been a very hard task to discover those seals and had no idea how she had found so many so easily. Of course, Kate hadn't said a word at this. She couldn't say Zachariah had sort of engraved those seals in her brain, and when and where exactly they were going to break, right? But, seeing how strong-minded Bobby Singer was, she couldn't help wonder if he could be the one to save the world. Heaven seemed to focus on Dean Winchester for some reason, and Zachariah wanted to keep her as a joker in case something didn't go the way they planned with Dean, but at the end of the day, Bobby seemed to be the only human being to truly and entirely rack his brains over the whole thing.

She knew she was supposed to help with those breaking seals, but she needed to figure out a couple of things first. And the only person she knew that could help her without asking too much questions, was someone she was sure Bobby wouldn't agree for her to see. Thus, after taking the last thing she needed, Kate went upstairs announcing she was going to take a nap which the old man was very happy to hear.

She closed the door of her bedroom and locked it before walking towards her bed. She knelt down and pulled out a shawl covering a few items from under the bed. She unfolded the shawl on the top revealing a large bowl containing dried herbs, three candles and a piece of chalk and a sharp knife. She pulled out a matchsticks box from her jeans' pocket and put it down before she reached for one of the two notebooks she had been writing on. She flipped over a few pages and stopped when she got the one she needed. She put it down, grabbed the piece of chalk and started drawing on the wooden floor the pattern that she had copied on the notebook. When she finished, she placed the bowl in the middle and arranged the three candles around the pattern. She took a matchstick and lit up one candle after candle, before blowing on the stick and putting it away. She grabbed the knife and let out a long sigh as she brought up it to her left hand. A light chuckle escaped her lips as she looked down at the settlement. She glanced up at the old wooden chair in the corner on which she had put down a hoodie jacket of hers, Dean's military jacket and Pamela's leather jacket. Her brown eyes lingered on the leather jacket.

"I don't know if you can see me from wherever you are Pam, but I'm pretty sure you'd slap the back of my head for what I'm doing," Kate said as she looked down at the knife, held her hand up above the bowl before pressing the tip of the knife on her fingertip. She winced and pulled the knife away when a large bubble of blood formed there. She shook her finger a little bit and drops of blood dropped onto the bowl. "Alright," she told herself as she put the knife away and glanced down at the Latin incantation holding her bleeding finger still above the bowl. She shook it vigorously before taking another matchstick. She lit it up, cleared her throat and said the incantation. "_Ad constringendum, ad ligandum eos pariter et solvendum:_ _Et ad congregandum eos coram me_." She threw the matchstick onto the bowl setting its containing aflame. She bit on her bottom lip very hard as she threw a glance at her left and at her right.

"Demon summoning, really Kate? You know I've got a cell phone, right?" Kate turned her head before standing up. The ritual really worked and that slightly surprised the young woman.

"I don't have your number," Kate said as she looked at the short brown-haired woman in front of her. Funny how Kate realized all of sudden how impossible it really was to tell if a person was possessed by a demon or not. After all, appearances could really be deceiving.

"Well, you're lucky you didn't mess up your summoning and didn't get another demon here," the brunette in a black leather jacket replied as she folded her arms over her chest. Kate swallowed as she realized how right Ruby's words were. Meanwhile the demon's eyes raked up and down Kate's body, a smirk forming on her lips as she looked up into Kate's eyes. "You look different."

"I know," Kate nodded as she brought her hand up showing off the bracelet around her wrist. "A special little bracelet to make my soul look ordinary."

"It works," Ruby nodded. "I mean that's a shame, but better be safe than sorry, right?" The demon said as she glanced at the locked door. "But I wasn't just talking about your soul actually. You look, I don't know, much less innocent than last time," she continued before walking towards the window and taking in the amount of destroyed cars almost surrounding the house. "Anyways, I don't think you've summoned me to talk about any of that… Wait, are we at that old drunk's house? Bobby Singer's?"

"Yeah, so if you could please be as quiet as possible," Kate replied as Ruby spun around and narrowed her eyes. "I told him I was taking a nap. He has no idea I summoned you. I'm sure he wouldn't let me summon a demon, not even you."

"Especially not me would be a better way to put things," Ruby told her and Kate frowned.

"Why?"

"What? You don't know? Apart from Sam, they all despise me," Ruby replied as she unfolded her arms threw them at her sides, a little smile appearing on her lips. "I'm a demon, remember?" She said blinking her eyes pitch black. Kate brought her hands up.

"Could you not- it's kinda creepy," she told her and the demon sighed before turning her eyes to their human colour. "I know you're a demon, Ruby. But, you're a nice demon." Kate said, making two steps towards her. "You've helped them many times. You've helped me too."

"Back when we had Heaven and Hell on our tails, you mean?"

"That, and later," Kate replied making the demon tilt her head, silently urging her to continue. "Hum, I had some troubles with an angel and hum I used the pattern you showed me. The one you told me Anna had used against Castiel and Uriel… But this gotta stay between us, please don't tell Sam or anyone else."

"Come on, Katie, of course it'll stay between us girls," Ruby smirked as she approached her. "Now, tell me why did you summon me up?"

"I need your help," Kate replied as she looked into Ruby's eyes with determination.

"What for?"

"You said you were a powerful witch back when you were human, right?" Kate said, her voice sounded as strong as the expression in her eyes. "Teach me."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Sioux Falls, South Dakota.<strong>_

_**One day later.**_

"What took you so long?" Ruby asked as she pulled open the hotel room's door, letting the other brunette walk in.

"Sorry, but convincing Bobby on going shopping on my own was a bit harder than I thought," Kate replied as she pulled down her back bag on the king size bed, and started shrugging off her parka coat.

"Don't worry about that," Ruby told her as she closed the door and walked towards three bags. She brought them up and Kate's brown eyes fell on them. "A few shirts and other things to make your lie convincing once you get back home."

"Good thinking," Kate said as she threw her coat on the bed along with her scarf. Her eyes travelled around the room as Ruby walked to the kitchenette side. "Couldn't you take a room with two beds? The receptionist gave me a funny look when I told him the number of my room."

Ruby smirked as she made her way towards a corner chair on which her leather jacket and a bag rested. "We won't be using any bed, so no worries. The only fun business that will take place in this room is in the kitchenette. Come on, I've settled it all." Ruby said as she pulled out a hexbag from her jacket's pocket. "You got yours?"

"Yeah," Kate said pulling it slightly out of her pants pocket to show it.

"Good," Ruby said as they both walked towards the kitchenette. Kate stopped when she saw the multiple patterns drawn all over the walls. "I don't know if you've noticed but I've drawn a couple ones on the windows near the bed too. But I got most of them here because that's where we're really gonna work."

"What are those sigils for?" Kate asked as she approached one wall and studied the forms and symbols written with what seemed to be a marker.

"Basically, they'll do the same thing than this," Ruby replied as she shook her hexbag in her hand. "But, they are protecting us from Angels only. Sure, the hexbag is keeping you away from being located by angels and demons, but since you're not from that universe, I think a little trick from any of those sides will be enough to locate you. I mean you're literally one of a kind here, with or without that shinny rock around your wrist. But these sigils," the demon said as she walked towards the tall brown-head, her hand pointing at the walls. "They can't do anything against these. You can plan to kill them, they won't even know and they won't even know where you are because those sigils create a so powerful shield that the angels can't see through it and they can't even get through it." Kate couldn't help the impressed smile that grew on her lips as she looked at the demon in her simple black tee-shirt while she was wearing a long-sleeved winter sweater. "So, what do you wanna start with?"

"Um," Kate frowned as she looked away, licking her lips before raking her teeth over her bottom lip. "I don't you to make me a complete witch, you know? I just… I want to learn some useful spells to defend, those kind of things. Nothing too Harry Potter-ish and especially not too, um, the Witches of Salem-ish."

"Alright," Ruby smirked before walking towards the counter near the sink. "I wasn't gonna teach you any dark magic, if that's what you're scared of." Kate approached her and looked at the many ingredients scattered all over the counter. Transparent plastic bags containing ingredients of all kind, from some dried herbs to some glittering grey powder, there even was a bag with what seemed to look like dead insects.

"What are those for?" Kate asked pointing at the dead insects' bag.

"Oh. Um, you'll find out later," Ruby replied as she looked up at her. "Do you remember how to make the hexbag you've kept since last time?"

"Barely."

"Alright, then we'll start with that."

* * *

><p>Three hours later, Kate already knew quite a handful of useful things. She knew how to make two kind of powerful hexbags, the first one was the usual one permitting protection from being seen and located by angels and demons while the second one gave off the same kind energy than the precious rock in the bracelet Bobby had given her. Thus, if someday, she lost her bracelet she still had a hexbag to make a perception filter around her soul. However, unlike the bracelet it wasn't protecting her from demon possession. Ruby had also taught her a spell to locate people on a map, a spell to protect a house from getting a dark spell casted over and also a potion to drink when someone's cursed. Kate had written it all down in a new notebook that she wasn't going to let anyone see, knowing far well that if she did, it would just get her in troubles. When Kate had asked if there wasn't any other defensive spells that could be useful when fighting against a specific creature, the demon had told her that there was but learning them would just make Kate get too close to dark magic which of course the young woman didn't want to.<p>

When Bobby called Kate on her cell phone to know when she was going to be back home, the young woman had pretended to be trying on a few clothes in a dressing room. This had shortened the conversation with the old man who just asked her to bring some fast food with her for diner. Hanging up, Kate had felt the demon's eyes glued on her.

"What?" She asked turning around to look at the demon leaning against the wall near the kitchenette.

"You should call Sam. He's been worried about you," she told her.

"Damn it, Ruby, you didn't tell him we-"

"Hold your horses, okay? I haven't told him anything about you and I meeting," Ruby cut her off, taking a few steps towards the other woman. "All I'm saying is that the poor guy is feeling completely guilty ever since you've run away weeks ago. I mean, you gotta understand that he wouldn't be that powerful without drinking demon blood and that-"

"What?" Kate interrupted the demon, her eyebrows frowning in confusion as she stared right into the dark brown eyes looking at her. "Drin-drinking demon blood? What the hell are you talking about?"

"You didn't know?" Ruby asked as Kate lightly shook her head, still confused by Ruby's words. "How did you think Sammy had his mojo from?"

"I-I don't know," Kate whispered as she looked away. Her thoughts and questions seemed to spin around, tangling and intertwining in a sort of ball of wool of absolute confusion and re-assessment. Sam was drinking demon blood? How could sweet Sam drink demon blood? Just putting his name and the action in the same sentence made it all sound unreal and impossible. How could that even be possible?

"Hey, don't overthink this. Sam hates it, but he knows that's the only thing that can make him strong enough to kill Lilith and stop the end of the world," Ruby told her as she approached her.

"But- I don't get it. Does that mean that anyone who drinks demon blood can get this kind of power?"

"No, it's… It's much more complicated," the demon replied before Kate cut her off.

"How can Sam do it? I'm sorry but I don't get it… It's wrong, it's just wrong and Sam would never do something like that, I-"

"Kate, stop, okay?" Ruby cut her off this time. "You gotta take a deep breath and calm down. Like I told you, Sam knows it's what he's gotta do to be strong enough to kill Lilith. I mean you've seen him killing Alastair, last time, and believe me when I tell you that Alastair was one of the strongest demon ever. It was nearly impossible to kill him, but Sam did it. He saved you, he saved you all that day and you have no idea how many innocents he saves by using his power." Kate just stared at her, the words were making their ways to Kate's brain, but she had a hard time grasping them completely. The news had taken her off guard like no other for quite some time now.

"I don't get it…" She just let out in a whisper as Ruby gently grabbed her arm and made her sit down on the bed with her. Kate went through the motions, without saying a word. Sure, she was new to this whole supernatural world, but still she knew how wrong the simple action of drinking blood was, let alone drinking demon blood.

"Did Sam tell you about Azazel and his chosen kids?" Kate simply nodded at the question as the demon studied her face. "They told you about this but they didn't tell you how Azazel chose those kids?" Kate frowned as she shook her head slightly. "Oh boy, this is gonna be a long story."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Four days later.<strong>_

_**Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.**_

It was almost three in the morning when Kate and Bobby went upstairs to their respective rooms. At midnight, she had tried to convince the old man to take a break with his research and to go to sleep, but it was in vain. He wanted to finish studying the last pages of the first part of that old testimony from some priest of the Middle Age that his friend, the professor Eleanor Visyak had sent to him that morning. It was written in Latin but some paragraphs were written in another language that Bobby found out later, was old French. Therefore, the young woman had spent a few hours with him then, trying to translate as much as she could. Old French was very different from modern French, but some words still held some resemblances as they were the roots of modern French. It wasn't an easy task and she found herself looking onto the internet more than once, and when Bobby had decided to call it a night, she had already translated two long paragraphs.

Closing the door behind her, the brunette took off the clipper holding her hair up in a messy bun as she walked towards the little wardrobe in which she had ordered her clothes the day before. She pulled out a tee-shirt and reached for a pair of sweatpants when she abruptly stopped. Her eyes focused on the shorts she used to put on almost every night while her thoughts wandered around the owner of those shorts. _Dean_. Bobby had told her that he had called today in order to ask something about a creature while Kate was out for shopping. Bobby had suggested to call them back so she could catch up with them, but she had refused not feeling truly ready. However, Bobby had noticed how those past couple of days she wanted to get as much news about them as possible while trying to remain casual and nonchalant. The old hunter wasn't a dupe, he knew that she wanted to contact them but was still stopping herself from doing so, and Kate was aware that he knew that. She was really touched that he never pushed her, though. She still felt like she needed some time, and it upset her a bit.

Kate took the clothes in one hand and slammed the drawer shut with the other, a light thud echoed in the quiet room. She threw the clothes she was going to sleep in on her bed as she started to undress, slowly taking the few steps between the wardrobe and the bed. Grabbing the sweatpants and smoothly slipping her legs into it, her brown gaze fell on the military jacket that Dean had given her back at Pamela's funeral. She shook her head as she grabbed the tee-shirt and put it on, her movements quick and almost abrupt. She grabbed the clothes she had taken off, before looking at _his _military jacket again.

"_You're gonna catch a cold if you stay like this," he told her as he pulled his arms out of the sleeves. She watched him, pretty taken aback. He made one step towards her and put his jacket over her shoulders._

"_What about you?" She asked in a little voice._

"_I got another one in the car," he replied as he started doing the pockets of his jacket._

Kate closed her eyes tightly and lowered her head as she tried to make disappear that flashback which only made her realize even more how sweet and caring he truly was with her. How could she have let him go through that with Alastair? And, now Zachariah had made it clear that if she ever disobeyed, he'd go through the same thing again. She couldn't let this happen. Not again.

Looking down at her hands fisting around the clothes, she threw them on top of the drawer and quickly grabbed her cell phone on the nightstand. She pressed two buttons and the few contacts she had, appeared on the same screen.

**Bobby S.**

**Dean W.**

**Matthew D.**

**Pamela B.**

**Rufus T.**

**Sam W.**

Scrolling down with her thumb, she passed Dean's name and stopped at Pamela's name. Was she supposed to delete her number? She had never deleted her father's number from her cell phone back in her world, then again she had had a hard time accepting his death. It took her a whole trip to another universe to finally grieve completely and accept her father's death. For sure, it wasn't truly the same thing and she had accepted Pamela's death quicker than her father's, but somehow she felt as if it was disrespectful. Kate decided to let it there, not finding the courage yet to delete it.

Her eyes glanced down at the last name of the list. _Sam_. Looking at it after everything Ruby had told her a few days ago, made her feel a bit uncomfortable and sad. He was so determined to kill Lilith that he was willing to make himself keep on drinking demon blood while just the thought of it sounded wrong. How terribly demanding that must have been to him, to sacrifice the purity of himself in order of getting more chances to save the world. According to Ruby, Dean wasn't a fan of that at all and this was why Sam was doing it on his back. Those past few days, Kate had tried putting herself in Sam's shoes just as much as she had tried putting herself in Dean's shoes. And, she had come to the conclusion that this whole situation was hard and sensitive for her to understand it completely, but all she cared about was what she had seen from them. She had witnessed so much good attentions coming from those two brothers, and she was the least person who would ever judge someone over doing something wrong to achieve the rightest goal possible.

With that last thought, Kate felt herself calm down as her eyes glanced up at Dean's jacket. She licked her lips, and looked down at her cell phone reading the time on it, before shaking her head slightly. She put the little item on the nightstand and climbed under the blanket, eventually deciding that calling them at such a late time with nothing prepared to say to them wasn't that good of an idea.

* * *

><p><em><strong>The next day.<strong>_

It was almost noon when Kate walked downstairs, showered and ready to start a new day. She was in a rather good mood today, even though she had a nightmare last night. It was about that vampire hunt she had done with Matt weeks ago and it was somehow mixed with her finally finding a way back to her universe. When she thought about it, it wasn't really a nightmare at the end. After all, that's what she wanted the most, right? To return to her universe where everything was just safe and sound. Then why was she feeling weirdly bad about it all of sudden? She stopped in Bobby's hallway, trying to find an answer to her own question when the old man's voice brought her attention to him.

"Morning kiddo. Give me a hand, will ya?"

She looked at him in his old green flannel and the usual hat on the top of his head, before nodding with a gentle smile. She walked in the living room, avoiding stepping on the giant map covering the floor as she made her way towards the coffee table where he was standing right next to. There were ten giant piles of books on it, maybe even more.

"Let's move it to the kitchen," Bobby told her as she gave a nod and bent down. "At three. One, two and three." They both carried up the heavy coffee table and made slow steps towards the kitchen, making sure to not drop any of the books.

"Why are we moving it away?" She asked as Bobby was looking over his shoulders, taking his steps back slowly.

"I need more room," he replied. "Here, put it down." Kate obliged before straightening up and pushing her hands on her lower back. "I've finished translating the first part of the testimony, this morning. Gotta say old French and modern French, it was all a big challenge."

"What? Why did you let me oversleep, I would have helped you, Bobby."

"Nah, it's fine. You needed this sleep," the old man smiled as he circled the coffee table and gave a friendly slap on her arm.

"You need it more than I do," she replied as she turned around, her brown eyes following him as he grabbed a few papers on his desk.

"What I need is for you to get your batteries recharged so you can start digging onto the box Pamela left you," he replied as he glanced up at her.

"Yeah, you're right," she nodded her head.

"By the way, I found the last tape when you were away with Matt," he told her as he bent down and started scattering a few papers along the map. "I put it in the box with the others."

"Cool, I'm gonna get started with that-"

"No, you have breakfast or lunch or whatever, first," he cut her off.

"That'd be brunch then," she said, an amused smile playing on her lips.

"Whatever. You eat something and then you can get started."

"You're the boss," she gave a firm nod before spinning around and walking onto the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Bobby couldn't help but throw a few glances now and then at the young woman reading on the couch. She had been sitting legs criss-crossed, her messy curls falling around her face like a brown curtain, and her hand reaching for the mug of coffee every once in a while, for a couple of hours now. She had a notebook resting on each side, and he had noticed her taking a few notes on one of them, every now and then, before returning to her quiet and focused reading. The old man was happy to see her looking and feeling so well. He had missed having her around, but above all he had missed seeing her acting the way she used to on her first days around here; simply studying books and taking notes while looking completely innocent and unaware of what was lurking in the dark. However, from his desk, he could still see the many pages full of scribbles and paragraphs of her handwriting as she flipped through the pages of her notebooks in order to find the blank pages, and this was enough to make him understand that even though she looked innocent and unaware of what was lurking in the dark, it was all just an appearance.<p>

And truth be told, the old man felt a bit torn by her development and her involvement in this world. There was no doubt that she had been very useful, but deep down he didn't feel like it was right to let her get too involved in this kind of life. He had already witnessed how it had infected her in some ways, and even though he knew she was a strong girl, he understood how difficult this kind of life could be to someone, let alone someone straight from another universe. This was the main reason why he wanted her to start digging on the last two books Pamela had left in that box. He had already read two others, but there wasn't much more information than what he had already found on his own books. He couldn't wait for Kate to finish reading those books and start listening to Pamela's tapes. He could feel it in his guts that his deceased friend had found something to help Kate with her problem.

Suddenly, the familiar roaring sound of motor echoed from outside, making Kate's head lift up and turn towards Bobby. Their eyes met and Bobby rested his hands flat on his desk as he stood up from his chair.

"It's the Impala, right?" She asked him.

"You gonna be alright?" He asked her, studying her face and trying to read the expression on her face. She nodded at him as the roaring sound stopped, followed by slamming doors. Bobby circled his desk and walked around the map and papers scattered on the floor, towards the doorway. He stopped at the doorway and turned his head to the brown-head on the couch. "Hey, it's gonna be okay, kiddo." She gave him a small smile, her fingers nervously playing with the corner of a page of the book on her legs.

"Yeah, I know," she replied trying to convince him and herself. He nodded, and made his way to the front door. As he walked away, she looked down at the book and mumbled to herself. "Just gonna be very awkward."

Stepping out of his house, Bobby was straightaway hit by the cold breeze of this February day, which made his jaw tremble as he let out a 'brrr' sound. He looked over at the two tall brothers standing over the trunk of their beloved classic car. He walked a few steps towards them as the elder brother slammed the trunk close, and turned around along with his brother.

"Hey Bobby," Sam said smiling to the old man who just raised one hand up and waved it right to left, indicating them to stop.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked, confused as the old man shook his head vigorously.

"Not a word," Bobby snapped as his eyes looked back and forth at the two brothers staring at him with surprise. "I don't wanna hear any smart comment said to her, okay? This girl in there has had enough shit she didn't deserve, and she's just started getting past it, so if one of you make-"

"Hey stop," Sam cut him off, his brows knit together. "C'mon Bobby, we're not stupid. We're not gonna do anything to make her feel uncomfortable or anything."

"You better not," the old man replied nodding his head slowly, and let out a long sigh.

"How is she feeling now?" Sam asked as Dean glanced at him to see real concern on his face.

"Better," Bobby replied shrugging slightly. "So please don't screw it all up." He fixed his eyes intensively on the elder Winchester.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"'Cause I got that feelin' that if one of you can screw it up, it'd be ya."

"That-" Dean said holding a finger up, before he looked back and forth at his brother and the old hunter facing them. He moved his finger from the old man to the young one. "That's unfair and that shows your favouritism even more, Bobby." Bobby rolled his eyes as Dean started to walk around him, towards the house. Sam looked at the old man, giving him a gentle smile.

* * *

><p>Kate was chewing nervously on her bottom lip when she heard the sounds of footsteps getting closer and closer. She tried her best to keep her head down and her eyes glued to the page of the book she was starting to spoil with her fingers folding and unfolding its corner. She frowned when she heard those footsteps fading and understood that whoever that was, they made their way upstairs immediately. Other footsteps appeared before a familiar voice echoed sweetly making Kate look up.<p>

"Look who's there."

"Hey," she replied softly as her brown eyes immediately met his hazel ones, a weak smile appearing on her lips.

"You be careful where you put your feet on, Sam" Bobby warned as he walked around the map towards the kitchen. Sam gave a nod before turning his head back towards the brown-head who watched him as he put down his duffle bag. "Want a beer?" Bobby asked from the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure," Sam replied as he started putting off his coat. He looked at his right where a chair used to stand and he used to throw his jacket on it.

"Um, let me take care of that for you," Kate said in a little voice as she quickly jumped out of the couch and approached him, carefully avoiding stepping on all the things scattered on the floor.

"No, you don't have to-" He said when she shook her head and held her hands out, insisting without saying a word. Her eyes were glued to the floor and Sam frowned. "Sure," he eventually replied, even though he knew where the coat rack was located. He handed her his coat and watched her as she took it and walked away. Bobby walked towards him and handed him his beer, giving him a nod towards the hallway trying to tell him without pronouncing a word to go see Kate. Sam nodded as the old man returned to his desk. Remembering what he had in his jeans pocket, Sam slipped his large hand in it and walked towards Kate who was making her way back to the living room. She stopped abruptly when they came face to face. He pulled his hand out and Kate looked down at the tiny candy in its blue wrapper. Her brown eyes lifted up to meet his own gaze, and he gave her a friendly smile, as she reached for the candy.

"Thanks," she softly said as she unwrapped the sweet.

"Yeah… Um, usually candies are great ice-breakers or even signs of peace," he told her, as a frown appeared on her face along with a light chuckle.

"I'm pretty sure that's fourth grade's rules," she replied as she put the candy in her mouth.

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure it still works-" he told her before stopping himself when a grimace formed on her face. "Wh-what's wrong?"

"Is that licorice?"

"Um, I dunno. I got it at a motel's reception," he replied watching her as she nodded her head, her face still scrunched up in a grimace.

"That-that's licorice… I hate licorice," she declared.

"So do I," he replied as a slight grimace appeared on his face as well. "You can just spit it out," he told her pulling out a tissue from his other pocket before handing it to her. She shook her head frantically.

"Sign of peace you said, right?" She said before forcing herself to swallow down the candy. She stuck her tongue out when she succeeded, and Sam couldn't help the amused smile that curled his lips.

"Sorry," he said in between laughs. She grabbed the beer in his hands and gulped a long sip of it before keeping some in her mouth and shaking it inside in order to wash away the taste of licorice that she hated so much. His eyes never looked away from her face as she handed him back his beer and swallowed everything down. When she looked up at him, their eyes immediately met and within a second they both let out light laughs. "You just saved me from going through this torture," he said making her stop laughing as she stared at him with a sudden serious, the memory of Zachariah's threat rising up again with Sam's words.

Kate didn't say anything as she immediately threw her arms around the tall man, forcing him to lean down as she tightly hugged him against her. She heard him let out a muffled sound of surprise, but he didn't take long to somehow manage sneaking his arms under her grip to hug her back.

* * *

><p>Almost two hours later, Kate rolled her eyes for the fifth times in less than two minutes as the exchanged of coughs reappeared in the room. She looked up from behind her wild hair, to see Sam sitting on the floor next to the map, with a book in his hands, shaking his head as his eyes were focused on the old man sitting at his desk. She threw a discrete glance at the old man who coughed again as he made a very emphasised nod of his head towards the doorway. She had no idea what was going on with them, and decided to return on her reading again. She lowered her head and started reading two lines when Bobby coughed loudly and obnoxiously again, followed by Sam's cough.<p>

"Do you guys want me to go to a drugstore and bring you something for whatever's itching your throat that much?" She asked them with a bit of sass.

Sam and Bobby turned their faces to the brunette sitting on the couch, before Sam spoke up "No, we're fine."

"Sure?" She asked scanning his face which looked a bit flustered. "Because that will give you enough privacy to talk about whatever you're trying to, without me sort of eavesdropping."

"It's-" Sam started.

"I'm just tryin' to make this idjit go upstairs to bring his brother down here," Bobby cut Sam off. "That idjit was supposed to be respectful and he hasn't even said hello to you yet."

"And I'm trying to make Bobby understand that Dean won't listen to me, because as much as he wants to apologize to you, he's not really the kind to make the first step," Sam said, looking back and forth at the two people in the room.

Kate was taken off guard and the expression on her facial features made it clear enough for them. Here is the thing: after Sam and Kate had succeeded breaking the sort of ice she had created by avoiding him and his brother, she hadn't stopped thinking about the elder Winchester. She had been wondering why he wouldn't come downstairs yet, and had come to the conclusion that made the more sense for her, namely that he was avoiding her. But, never once did she think he was avoiding her because he wanted to apologize.

"What do you mean by 'he wants to apologize to me'?" She asked, her eyebrows brought together in confusion as she stared at Sam.

"Well, he thinks you didn't wanna talk to us anymore because of what you've seen him doing to Alastair," he replied.

"What?" She let out in a breath as she turned her head towards the old man who slightly rose his eyebrows.

"I mean, I know it's because of what you've seen me doing," Sam continued. Kate's head snapped at him.

"You-" She started before stopping herself, shaking her head, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip. She put the book that was resting on her lap, on the couch and looked up at Sam. "It has absolutely nothing to do with you and what you've done, Sam. And, same goes for your brother, which is why I'm gonna have two words with him right now," she stood up and walked around the map, as the two men watched her quietly. She ruffled Sam's hair as she walked past him, and he tried to brush the top of his head with his hand as he watched her ascend the stairs.

* * *

><p>Dean was laying on his bed, his eyes closed as another classical rock 'n' roll song burst in his headphones, his fingers tapping in rhythm against his abdomen. After he had come into this room earlier, he had found himself unable to go back downstairs and face the brunette. It's not that he didn't want to, but ever since what happened with Alastair she had made it clear that she didn't want to talk to any of them Winchesters. She had gone as far as running away from Bobby's before they came in here during his healing time. And, he had thought about it a lot before realizing that it was no need to overthink it all. The woman had been clear and accurate that she didn't want to talk to them anymore, and he knew it was because she knew now what he was capable of doing. He couldn't focus on this thing while the apocalypse was getting closer and closer. Another angel had appeared in his life and had gotten things straight with him.<p>

"_Wait. Did I—did I just get touched by—you're an angel, aren't you?"_

"_I'm Zachariah."_

"_Oh, great. That's all I need is another one of you guys."_

"_I'm hardly another one, Dean. I'm Castiel's superior. Believe me, I had no interest in popping down here into one of these smelly things, but it's like those past few months I needed to," _the angel had said in an annoyed tone as he had indicated his body. "_And after the unfortunate situation with Uriel, I felt it necessary to pay you a visit too. Get my ducks in a row."_

"_I am not one of your ducks,"_ Dean had shot back at the angel, both of them standing in that office back at Sandover's.

"_Starting with your attitude,"_ Zachariah had said before sighing. _"You all seem to have a big penchant to talk back."_

"_Oh, yeah well we humans are like that… And this was all some sort of a lesson? Is that what you're telling me? Wow. Very creative."_

"_You should see my decoupage."_

"_Gross. No thank you. So, what? I'm just hallucinating all this? Is that it?"_

"_Not at all. Real place, real haunting. Just plunked you, your brother and that girl in the middle without the benefit of your memories,"_ Zachariah had explained.

"_Do you guys know that she's the same girl you asked us to protect? But, you did all of that to just shake things up? Hm? So you guys can have fun watching us run around like ass clowns in monkey suits while putting her in danger?"_

"_To prove to you that the path you're on is truly in your blood. You're a hunter. Not because your dad made you, not because God called you back from hell, but because it is what you are. And you love it. You would have never let anything happen to her because that's what you do. You save people, you hunt things, and you just can't live any other way. You'll find your way to it in the dark every single time and you're miserable without it. Dean, let's be real here. You're good at this. You'll be successful. You will stop it."_

"_Stop what? The apocalypse, huh? Lucifer? What? Be specific, man_," Dean had replied frustrated by what the angel was telling him.

"_You'll do everything you're destined to do. All of it. But I know, I know. You're not strong enough. You think a girl from another universe is stronger than you and that she can do it at your place, but in the same time you don't want her to go through something like that. You don't want her to be as scared as you are. Because that's it. You're scared. You got daddy issues. You can't do it. Right?"_

"_Angel or not, I will stab you in your face,"_ Dean had replied angrily, wanting so badly to make that angel shut up.

Dean could remember so well the large smile that had appeared on the angel's face then. A smile that the minute he saw it, he knew was only going to make him even more suspicious of those angels.

"_All I'm saying is it's how you look at it. Most folks live and die without moving anything more than the dirt it takes to bury them. You get to change things."_ Dean had turned around at this. _"Save people, maybe even the world. All the while you drive a classic car and fornicate with women. This isn't a curse. It's a gift. So for God's sakes, Dean, quit whining about it," _Zachariah had said making Dean turn around again to face the angel_. "Look around. There are plenty of fates worse than yours. So are you with me? You wanna go steam yourself another latte? Or are you ready to stand up and be who you really are?_

After a few seconds of silence, Dean had asked him the question that was itching him._ "What about Sam and Kate? Why did you bring them in here too, if you only need me?"_

"_Your brother and you are quite inseparable, and we thought that it could boost you a bit more to have your dear little brother here with you. And, that was a success,"_ the angel had said in reply. "_So, ready?"_

"_What about Kate?" _Dean had asked and the angel's lips had curled into a little smirk that hadn't gone unnoticed by the hunter's eyes.

"_Well, let's say that we needed to check if we could trust her."_

"_And?"_

"_And now, I'm one hundred percent sure that we can," _Zachariah had replied._ "So, are you with me?"_

Dean's eyes snapped open when he heard what seemed to be a knock. He frowned and reached up to put off his headphones, his eyes looking at the door when another knock was made. He sighed, throwing on his side the little mp3 player, Sam had given him for his birthday, the day before they had been taken away by the angels to spend a whole week thinking they had been working in a building for weeks. His little brother had filled the mp3 player with his favourite songs, and he had promised that it was in no way a birthday present since Dean always told him not to make a big deal of his birthday. However, the fact that Sam had given it to him on January 24th along with a whole pie, was a pretty good giveaway that his little brother would never listen to him. When Dean had found out all the songs in the tiny item, he had been so happy that he had stayed all night long listening to all the songs he already listened so much in his car.

Dean opened the door wide, his hand frozen around the door's handle when his green eyes landed on a wild mess of brown hair. He had thought it'd be Sam or Bobby, but seeing her here was the least he had expected. And, when she looked up; when her brown eyes looked right into his green ones, he felt it again. This almost indescribable feeling that seemed to irradiate from her all the time, and that he had spent over a month trying to get over with no such luck, embraced his entire self again. And, somehow that saddened him; that saddened him to think that he had frightened her so much that day that she had felt the need to run away from them.

"Hey," she said to him, in a soft tone as her lips curled into a gentle smile.

"Hey," he said back, not able to find anything better to reply.

"I," she started before licking her lips, her eyes lowering down to what she was holding in her hands. He followed her gaze to notice his military jacket folded as she handed it to him. "I thought you'd want this back."

"Yeah, thanks," he simply said, taking the jacket before looking up at her face again. She dropped her hands at her sides once the jacket was in one hand of his.

"It's supposed to be… Er… A sign of peace," she nervously gestured to his jacket.

"Giving me back my jacket?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I mean… I could have kept it forever."

"It would have been a theft," he told her as a thoughtful expression washed over her face for a quick second before her eyes settled back onto looking into his own.

"Can I come in?" She asked him and he stayed speechless as he took a couple of steps aside to let her walk in. He hesitated on closing the door, but decided to let it just slightly open as he turned around and looked at her. Her eyes were traveling around the room filled with a few large cardboard boxes, two old wardrobes, a pretty big wooden box and a bed. His duffle bag was on the top of one of the old wardrobes, opened as a few clothes were piled on the floor right in front of the wardrobe. Kate assumed that the pile of clothes was his laundry, and when she turned around to ask him, she spotted him watching her. It stopped her from asking this stupid and irrelevant question, as she linked her fingers together in front of her and said something else instead. "I've never come in this room. When I was cleaning his house, Bobby made me promise not to touch any of the rooms you guys used."

"Yeah, I suppose it's because those boxes are filled with old things Bobby wanna keep," Dean shrugged as he threw his jacket on the bed, right next to the mp3 player.

"I wanted to say that you're not the reason why I ran away," she blurted out and he couldn't help the confusion that wrote itself on his features. "I mean, you're not the direct reason, Dean. Neither is your brother. I just ran away because of what I did to you."

"What you did to me?"

"Yeah… Um, back at that building, I pushed you onto doing something and I-" She stopped herself once again, wondering if she could even say that she shouldn't have done this. What if Zachariah got mad at her again and did something to them for her poor choice of words. "I believe that you are destined for great things, Dean," she said as Dean watched her. "And back then, I believed that following Uriel's orders was the right thing to do in order to save the world, your world at least-"

"C'mon, Kate, no one knew that Uriel was the traitor back then," he cut her off, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the way she was heading this conversation. Her eyes seemed to hold a whole different opinion than her words if that even were possible.

"I know," she nodded before deciding to just cut this weirdly awkward conversation short. She looked down and continued. "What I meant to say was that, I ran away because of the way I acted towards you. It wasn't fair and I felt very ashamed of myself… And, I'm really sorry if you thought it was your fault in any way, because it really wasn't. I-I just felt too overwhelmed with everything and I-I dunno, I just avoided you," she shrugged as a lump started to form in her throat and she tried to get rid of it before he noticed. But, Dean did notice.

"Hey," he said approaching her. He slightly cupped her chin with one hand to make her rise her head. When, her eyes met his again, he gave her a gentle smile. "No need to feel bad. I avoided you too, you know?" She gave him a weak smile and he pulled his hand away. "And I was a bit overwhelmed too, back then. Oh and also a bit of a pain in the ass according to Sam. So, really it was for the best that we didn't see each other back then." She let out a light huff, as she looked away a soft little smile dancing on her lips. "I'd say we're even, don't you think?"

She slowly nodded before reaching her hands up to tuck her hair behind her ears. She looked at him and saw him staring at her with some sparkles in his eyes along with a smile on his lips. "What?"

"What 'what'?"

"What are you smiling at?"

"Your hair," he started as he pointed at it. "It's a real mess."

"Ugh," she groaned looking away when he said something that took her off guard so much that her eyes shot back at him.

"I missed it."

She studied his face as he cleared his throat, one hand reaching on the back of his neck to scratch nervously. He looked a bit flustered all of sudden, as his green eyes tried to look everywhere but at her intensive gaze. His eyes fell on his bed and he coughed again as he made a few steps towards it, and grabbed the tiny item right next to his jacket.

"You know those things? They're not as bad as they seem," he rambled trying nervously to change the subject. She felt her lips curl in spite of her as she watched him, scrolling his fingers on the object in one of his large hands. "Sammy put like two hundred songs in it… I've got all of Led Zeppelin's albums, even the couple of songs I don't have in my tapes."

"Do you have 'Ramble on' on it?" She asked as she approached him, her eyes looking down at the mp3 player in his hand.

"Sam wouldn't have forgotten this song, it's one of my faves," he replied and she glanced up at his face. Standing so close to him right then, made her notice the few faded scars that had completely vanish when they were back at Sandover's. She glanced down at the item' screen and reached up her hand.

"Oh I love this one," she pointed at '_Fool in the Rain'_ by Led Zeppelin, and when Dean didn't say anything she looked up at him. "It's one of my favourite," she noticed his gaze looking down at her hand up above the item before his free hand reached it.

"What's that?" He asked, his thumb brushing over the long scar she had had on hunting with Matt.

"Nothing, just hunting scars," she almost whispered as she pulled her hand away. He watched her face, analysing the expression on it as thoughts rushed in his mind but he remained quiet before returning his attention on the mp3 player.

"_Fool in the rain_?" He said looking back and forth at her and the object in his hand before letting out a light chuckle. "Yeah, it's not a bad one." She nodded as she discreetly closed her fists, trying to hide the scars of her own fingernails.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Author's note:<strong>

**Alright, people… I'm completely aware of how out of character Dean really is in this chapter but I couldn't think of any better way to make the interaction between those two happen after all the 'qui-pro-quo' I put them in. So yeah, I'm sorry, but the thing is that I had this chapter so wonderfully written and when I lost all of those files weeks ago, I lost it too! And, believe me when I tell you it's a real struggle to remember everything I've had written and to try rewrite it. Thus, I decided to change a couple of things and stop racking my brains over it so much. I hope you enjoyed it anyways :)**

**On another note, I've heard there was some cyberbullying lately, targeting people from fandoms but mostly the Supernatural fandom… I don't have any twitter, facebook, tumblr or whatever social network where this thing is taking place, but I really hope that not a lot of people have been touched by this terrible and pathetic thing that some people find amusing doing. If you've received some hate, remember that their goal is to hurt you so of course they're gonna say upsetting things, but that doesn't make those things true! Just ignore those things, try to block those people, they're not worth it. You are all very strong, and please be supportive of those who aren't as confident of their inner strength. Remember: 'Family don't end in blood'.**

**A very happy new year to all of you dear readers, and please try to leave a review ;)**

**Stay safe and strong,**

**A.**


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